Nagpur: In a bizarre incident, a couple from Nagpur in Maharashtra have been accused of chaining their 12-year-old son to a sort of pillar inside their house before leaving for work.
They apparently did this as the boy had turned into a petty thief and would commit crimes in the neighborhood after the parents left home.
However, it is not known why the child had not been admitted to a school, where boys of his age belong.
The police said they received information from the child helpline 1098 about a 12-year-old boy being tied up everyday by his parents, who were daily wage labourers, before they went to work.
The Nagpur District Child Protection Cell rescued the boy on Friday.
“The inciden
t took place in the jurisdiction of Anjni police station in Nagpur. According to the information, the child was being tied up everyday for past 3-4 months. This had caused injuries on the boy’s legs,” the police have been quoted as saying by Indian Express.
“The parents informed that they had tie him up as he had started committing petty theft when they would go to work. They used to tie him up with chains when leaving for work and remove it after returning,” the police added.
“When our team reached the house on Friday, the child was found in extremely dire circumstances. He was chained, had no space to move, and had been kept without food or water. The condition of the child shocked the team, as such a young boy was subjected to such inhuman punishment,” district child protection officer Mushtak Pathan told the newspaper.
A case has been registered against the parents by the Anjni police, authorities said, adding that the boy has been sent to a child home and is being counselled.
An investigation has been launched by the police under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 and other relevant sections.