Alleged stealing: Child locked up for stealing bulb

SUKKUR: An eight-year-old boy was allegedly beaten and locked up at the Mirpur Mathelo police station late Tuesday night on charges of stealing a bulb from an electric shop.

The boy, Saleem Bozdar, collects and sells cardboard scraps to help his family.

On Tuesday, he was collecting cardboard outside shops in Shahi Bazaar when shopkeeper Manohar Lal caught him and reportedly beat him up. The shopkeeper tied Saleem’s hands behind his back and took him to Mirpur Mathelo police station. It is also alleged that Lal beat him on the way. SHO Abdul Hameed Shaikh locked him up in jail despite his age, officials claim.

However, the Ghotki DPO telephoned the SHO to release the boy immediately. Mirpur Mathelo police station’s head constable Safdar Ali Malik denied that the boy was held in the lockup. “The boy was brought by the shopkeeper who accused him of stealing but the SHO issued a warning to the shopkeeper and the boy was released.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 24^th, 2011.