Hallomajra: Juvenile stabs 14-year-old friend to death

CHANDIGARH: A 14-year-old boy stabbed his friend, also aged 14, to death allegedly to avenge a slap in Chandigarh’s Hallomajra locality on Tuesday.

On seeing his friend collapse on the ground and bleeding profusely, the accused fled into a nearby forest area, where he dumped the kitchen knife used in the crime. He later returned to the locality, where he was apprehended after an hour-long search, said police.

The incident comes two days after four youths stabbed a teen to death over an old feud in Colony No. 4 near the Industrial Area.

The accused, who dropped out of school after Class 5, was produced before the juvenile justice board and sent to a reformation home. His mother works in a factory while the father is bedridden, said police.

It was around 9:30am that the victim’s grandmother made a call to the police control room to report the incident at Deep Complex in Hallomajra.

CCTV footage showed the two chasing each other. The accused tripped following which they came to blows. He can later be seen going home and returning with a kitchen knife with which he stabbed his friend in the back.

Police rushed the victim to hospital, where he was declared

ACCUSED, WHO TOO IS 14-YR-OLD AND A SCHOOL DROPOUT, TELLS POLICE THAT HE COMMITTED THE CRIME TO AVENGE A SLAP

brought dead. Cops said he used stay with his father and grandmother after his mother deserted the family.

On getting a lead that the accused had run towards a forest area near the mosque in Ram Darbar, police launched a search operation. The boy, however,

had returned to Hallomajra and was apprehended later. The knife was also recovered from the forest area on revelation made by him.

The juvenile reportedly told police that the two had an argument on Monday too, and his friend had slapped him. It was to avenge the slap that he stabbed him, he allegedly said.

A case of murder under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered at the Sector 31 police station. The victim’s body is kept in the mortuary and the postmortem would be conducted after receiving his Covid-19 test report, said police.