Five juveniles were apprehended by Odisha Police for allegedly sexually assaulting and killing a minor student at a madrasa in Nayagarh.
Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Subhash Panda informed that the five “Child in Conflict with Law” (CCL) were produced before the Juvenile Justice Board and charged under the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, and relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
The Board has sent them to a juvenile rehabilitation home, “Angul Bala Sudhar Gruha,” for 13 days.
Panda said that during the investigation, sufficient evidence was collected that established an elder student from the madrasa committed the crime. He allegedly sexually assaulted the boy on August 31 and attempted to drown him in a septic tank. However, the victim was able to climb out but sustained minor injuries to his head and other parts of the body.
According to the victim’s father’s complaint, two students tricked his son into returning to the same location. There, along with three others, they allegedly attacked him, strangled him to death, and dumped his body back into the septic tank.
“A case was registered under section 103 of the BNS on September 3 regarding the alleged murder of a minor boy,” Panda said.
“During investigation, sufficient evidence was collected that an elder student of a Madrasa at Nilapalli committed this ghastly incident, and he on 31st of August, after sodomy (sexually assaulting) the boy, tried to dump him into the septic tank. However, the boy climbed up and saved himself. On 2nd September, the boy, along with three other accomplices, committed the crime after sodomy, the victim at about 11 AM that day. We apprehended all five CCLs and produced them before the court…,” added Panda.
In his compliant, the victim’s father claimed that his son was murdered inside an abandoned bathroom on the madrasa premises.
The investigation, which involved a scientific team, a site visit, questioning of witnesses and circumstantial evidence, revealed that an elder student had repeatedly committed unnatural sex with the deceased for a long time.
The deceased had threatened to tell his parents about the sexual assault, after which the elder student threatened to kill him.
