V Mayilvaganan, TNN | Jul 22, 2011, 06.45am IST
MADURAI: Police have found that the eight-year-old , whose body was found in a wooden box at a school near here a few days ago, was sodomized and strangled to death by five teenagers.
Four school students , aged between 14 and 17, and an 18-year-old daily wage labourer were arrested for the crime on Thursday. "All the five hail from Kilavaneri, the victim's village. They used to gather behind the school to drink liquor or smoke beedi . On July 16, they spotted P Jayasurya (8), who was playing hide-and-seek with friends, entering the school around 4.30pm. They grabbed Jayasurya , took him to the school bathroom and sodomized him. The boy fell unconscious. Fearing that Jayasurya would expose them, they strangled him and dumped the body in a wooden box," said apolice officer.
All the teenagers hail from poor families in Kilavaneri. They ganged up two years ago and were in the habit of smoking and drinking together, though they were said to be sober when they allegedly murdered the child. They were booked under five counts, including murder and unnatural sex.
"Enquiries with school authorities and villagers confirmed that they had not misbehaved with any child or girl so far. But they said that they used to have sex with each other ," the officer said.
Psychiatrists blamed the media for "exposing" children to abundant sex-related information. " Boysof this age are usually hyper and do not know how to channelise their emotions and energies. In many cases , media outlets provoke them, as do peer pressure and lack of awareness . Especially when they are in a group, they behave in an aggressive manner," said psychiatrist N Shalini . "We must also find out if there was something wrong in their upbringing ," she said.
After dumping the body of Jayasurya in the box, the five went about their normal lives till the police picked them up for interrogation two days later. "We zeroed in on a few persons from the village who used to roam around near the school. These teenagers gave contradictory replies and on further interrogation, they confessed," said police.
Shalini insisted that the teens should be counselled to help bring about a behavioural change. In fact, the law too insists that they be not treated as common criminals but as "juveniles in conflict with law" , she said. The school students were remanded and sent to a juvenile home, while the youth was lodged in the Melur sub-jail .
Four school students , aged between 14 and 17, and an 18-year-old daily wage labourer were arrested for the crime on Thursday. "All the five hail from Kilavaneri, the victim's village. They used to gather behind the school to drink liquor or smoke beedi . On July 16, they spotted P Jayasurya (8), who was playing hide-and-seek with friends, entering the school around 4.30pm. They grabbed Jayasurya , took him to the school bathroom and sodomized him. The boy fell unconscious. Fearing that Jayasurya would expose them, they strangled him and dumped the body in a wooden box," said apolice officer.
All the teenagers hail from poor families in Kilavaneri. They ganged up two years ago and were in the habit of smoking and drinking together, though they were said to be sober when they allegedly murdered the child. They were booked under five counts, including murder and unnatural sex.
"Enquiries with school authorities and villagers confirmed that they had not misbehaved with any child or girl so far. But they said that they used to have sex with each other ," the officer said.
Psychiatrists blamed the media for "exposing" children to abundant sex-related information. " Boysof this age are usually hyper and do not know how to channelise their emotions and energies. In many cases , media outlets provoke them, as do peer pressure and lack of awareness . Especially when they are in a group, they behave in an aggressive manner," said psychiatrist N Shalini . "We must also find out if there was something wrong in their upbringing ," she said.
After dumping the body of Jayasurya in the box, the five went about their normal lives till the police picked them up for interrogation two days later. "We zeroed in on a few persons from the village who used to roam around near the school. These teenagers gave contradictory replies and on further interrogation, they confessed," said police.
Shalini insisted that the teens should be counselled to help bring about a behavioural change. In fact, the law too insists that they be not treated as common criminals but as "juveniles in conflict with law" , she said. The school students were remanded and sent to a juvenile home, while the youth was lodged in the Melur sub-jail .
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