Acid poured on Bihar boy for 'stealing'

PATNA: A mob assaulted a minor boy and poured acid on him in a village in Bihar's Bhagalpur district, allegedly for stealing from a shop, the police said on Tuesday.

The 14-year-old resident of Vikramshilla village was beaten and acid poured on him by some people after he was allegedly caught stealing from a shop near the Bishanpur Chowk under Kahalgaon sub-division, about 200 km from here.

The victim, a class nine student of the Rampur High School, was rushed to a government hospital in Bhagalpur where he was now undergong treatment, doctors said.

His family refuted the stealing charge and said he was targeted out of enmity. Police filed a case of assault and arrested two people.

There have been more and more instances of mob violence in the name of justice in rural Bihar. Over three dozen lynching incidents were reported last year and over two dozen cases have been reported in the last four months.