Mischief by boy lands well-wishers in trouble

Anees Nawab Sheikh, 13, a resident of Chakala, Andheri (East), used to inhale whitener, the police said. He was “addicted” to it as the liquid acted as an intoxicant.

His brother-in-law, Yusuf Mohammed Qureshi, 36, who was also his guardian, had reprimanded him many times for the bad habit, but to no avail.

“Anees is a mischievous boy. He paid no heed to Yusuf, who wanted to rid him of his addiction for whitener,” an officer of Andheri police station said.

On January 3, when Anees allegedly drank the whitener, Yusuf flew to rage. He decided to “teach the boy a lesson”.

“Yusuf took a huge iron chain that he used to tie buffaloes, put it around Anees’s neck, and put three locks in it,” the cop said. “We do not, however, know how that would have stopped the boy from drinking whitener as his hands were free.”

He then locked up Anees in a room in their home at Kajuwadi, Chakala. Anees spent the night with the chain round his neck.

Next day, on January 4, around 10.30 am, after Qureshi left for work, the boy managed to open the door and escape from the house. He went to Fazluddin Sheikh, 30, a tongahwala. Anees worked for Fazluddin, helping him to clean the horse and the tongah. In the evening, he went for tongah rides along with other children of the locality.

Reaching Fazluddin’s house, the boy found he was out. Seeing Anees with the chain around his neck, Rehanabi, Fazluddin’s mother, took him to the police.

“Seeing the boy’s condition, the old lady took him to the police beat chowky, where the locks and chain were removed,” the official said. “When we got to know that he was 13 years of age, and worked for Fazluddin, we called the latter for inquiry.”

The cops registered a case against Fazluddin under the child labour act. “Yusuf too was charged under the child welfare act, and sections 323 (causing hurt) and 342 (wrongful confinement) of the IPC,” senior inspector Gulabrao Deshmukh said.