New Delhi: A 17-year-old boy died after he was beaten up by the relatives and neighbours of a girl who he knew from school, and whose house he tried to enter around midnight on Monday.
The incident took place near Nagla Bhartiya village under Vrindaban police station limits on Monday night. The boy was accompanied by a friend, also a minor, who was beaten up and sustained severe injuries. He is recuperating in a hospital.
According to an Indian Express report, the victim and the girl are friends who live in neighbouring villages. But the girl’s family did not approve of their friendship. While neighbours of the girl’s family say the two boys tried to enter the house discreetly, the victim’s father claimed, “We don’t even know if he entered the house or was picked up from somewhere else.”
He said that the girl contacted people in the boy’s village, seeking help. But by the time anyone could reach the neighbouring village, the victim had sustained fatal injuries.
The father said the family had dinner together sometime after 9 pm on Monday, and then his son went out with his friend. “We got frantic calls later, telling us that my son was being beaten up…. They killed him mercilessly. I understand that they knew each other from school, and perhaps that did not go down well with them (girl’s family), but why did they kill him?” he told the Indian Express.
Mathura SSP Gaurav Grover said the police received information that a youth was attacked by a group of villagers when he went to meet a girl. He said senior officers are investigating the incident.
The father of the deceased man has named seven people from Nagla Bhartiya village who were allegedly involved in the killing of his son, police said. Two relatives of the girl and two neighbours have been arrested.
With the boy’s death, the police believe that there is a possibility of reprisal attacks. While the boy hails from a Gurjar family, the girl is a Thakur. Both the castes are dominant in their respective villages, and nearly two dozen members of the Provincial Armed Constabulary and policemen drawn from local stations have been deployed in both villages to prevent any violence.
According to reports, though residents of both the villages say there is no antagonism between the two castes, the police are apprehensive that the assault could open up the possibility of a backlash.
(With PTI inputs from Mathura)