15-year-old likes meme online, gets pinched in his private parts

The trustee kicked and slapped the boy while dragging him to his office and tore off his clothes as wel

A 15-year-old student of a Mulund West school was badly beaten up and pinched in his private part by the institute's trustee just for hitting the like button on a meme of him and the principal, which surfaced on Instagram a couple of months back through a fake account. However, the boy managed to escape from the school and informed his uncle about the abuse after which a complaint was filed in the matter. After registering an FIR, the Mulund cops arrested the trustee.

When the meme surfaced on Instagram, many students from the school had liked it and some of them followed the account as well. The trustee had then called the parents of students from different classes and had warned them to keep their wards away from such mischief.

The trustee and the principal had also taken the help of Cyber Cell, Mumbai Police, to block the account. According to parents, the trustee had been questioning students to know who had uploaded the meme, and later found that a boy who was expelled from school last year, had done it. However, he continued to enquire about the boy's friends.

According to the complaint, around 11.30 am on January 27 when the complainant was drinking water at the cooler, the trustee allegedly started kicking him. He then dragged him to his cabin while slapping him all the way. When the boy asked him what his fault was, he kept hitting him and even pinched his private part.

However, the student managed to escape from the school and informed his maternal uncle about the incident. His uncle told his parents about it and took them to the school to meet the trustee.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the boy's father said, "The trustee is so arrogant that he did not even meet us and explain his actions. When this matter first came up a couple of months ago I had met him personally and said that if my boy was found to be involved in it, then he should take him to the police, but instead he beat him up mercilessly."

His father added, "He has fever and couldn't sleep all night. He was beaten up in front of his classmates till his clothes tore off. I just hope this incident doesn't affect his mind."

The Mulund cops have booked the trustee under Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intent to provoke breach of peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC and relevant sections of Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates