Bihar: Teen branded with hot iron for seeking wages

PATNA: A 13-year-old boy, Vijay Kumar, was badly beaten up and branded with hot iron on Sunday just for demanding his wages from the owner of the shop he was working with. Vijay was abandoned by his mother after he lost his father at a young age.
Police said Vijay worked at a food stall along the NH-31 near Maheshkhunt in Khagaria district for the past three months.The owner, identified as Mithu Kumar, had promised him Rs2,000 per month for washing plates of the customers, but did not pay for the last two months. “Soon after I demanded my wages, he charged me with stealing his mobile phone and began assaulting me. Later, he locked me in a room and branded me with a hot iron rod as I suffered serious wounds all over my body,” Vijay told the police.
A video which has gone viral showing various cut marks on the hands and back of the boy. A local social activist, Sonelal Chaurasia, admitted him to a local hospital and got him treated. But more horrible was that the local police refused to register his complaint saying his petition was not properly written and asked him to follow the format to enable him register the FIR.
“The boy had come with a complaint but this was not written in a proper order. I told him to bring another one so that the case could be registered,” Maheshkhunt police station inspector Neeraj Kumar told TOI over phone on Tuesday, adding the accused would be arrested the moment the case was registered.
Assaulting or even killing persons for seeking wages is not uncommon in Bihar. In August last year, one Upendra Ravidas died in Nalanda district after being beaten, tied to bricks and thrown into a rivulet for seeking 10kg of rice as his wage.
Another such incident took place under Sikarhatta police station area in Bhojpur district in May last year when Vinod Rajwar was allegedly strangled for asking his landlord to give his wages.