Taking note of inhuman physical torture of a 10-year-old slum boy in Cuttack city on Monday, the Orissa high court on Wednesday directed the state police to trace out the perpetrators of the crime and submit a report in the court on the entire incident within three days.
The HC direction came following publication of photographs of the victim in the leading Oriya daily, Samaj, and subsequent filing of PIL by Dayanidhi Lenka, an advocate.
On Wednesday, local Oriya television channels also aired the heart-rending video footages of the torture that left the entire state shocked. The perpetrators of the crime, who are yet to be identified, tied the boy to a tree, undressed him and whipped him with a plastic wire.
They also applied leaves of irritant shrubs like stinging nettle (fleurya interrupta) on his private parts, cheek and eye, leaving him utter pain. The video clippings showed the boy crying bitterly and vainly trying to hide his private part with tied up palms.
One of the perpetrators is seen in the video kicking the boy on his chest.
All this happened in broad day-light even as the dozens of people gathered there mutely witnessed the horror scene. A college student who saw the incident recorded the gory scene in her camera phone and passed on it to the local media requesting anonymity. The culprits, who were around four in number, committed the crime holding him responsible for missing of a mobile phone.
The accused are said to be construction workers.
Deputy commissioner of police Amitendra Nath Sinha has formed a special squad to arrest the accused.
Meanwhile, sources said the police has located the victim and identified the youths involved in the offence. “We have located the victim and search is on to find the accused. We hope they will soon be apprehended,” a senior police official said.