Boy invited to birthday, stripped, urinated upon in UP’s Basti; dies by suicide

GORAKHPUR A 17-year-old Dalit boy allegedly died by suicide after facing brutal violence and humiliation by a group of teenagers of the same caste during a birthday bash in UP’s Basti district. The victim, a Class 10 student, was invited to the party in the Kaptanganj area on December 20, where he was purportedly stripped, urinated on, and filmed by the perpetrators. Despite his pleas to delete the video, the accused refused, said police on Tuesday.

The victim hailed from Sant Kabir Nagar district and was staying at his uncle’s house in Basti.

The boy’s mother alleged that the accused refused to delete the video and also allegedly forced him to lick their spit.

Four teenagers named in the FIR lodged by the boy’s maternal uncle were arrested, said CO (Sadar) SB Tiwari. He said the dispute stemmed from a past incident of eve-teasing and all the accused and the deceased were of the same caste.

SP (Basti) GK Choudhary suspended the Kaptanganj station officer, DK Dubey, with immediate effect and initiated an inquiry against other staff members. Dubey had allegedly not acted against the accused despite the boy’s family lodging a complaint. The SP said initial inquiries revealed lapses in handling the case.

Day after the incident, the boy had narrated the ordeal to his mother. When his family approached the Kaptanganj police station to file a complaint on Sunday, they were ignored. Even on Monday, the police failed to take action. On Monday, unable to bear the trauma, the victim hanged himself around 1pm.

The boy’s maternal uncle claimed that police officers pressured the family to hand over the body for the post-mortem examination. But the family refused and staged a protest at the SP office on Monday. Following assurances of stringent action, they allowed the post-mortem examination of the body.