Youth gets life term for causing teen’s death by inserting pipe in rectum

LUDHIANA: A local court on Wednesday sentenced a youth to life imprisonment for causing the death of his 16-year-old co-worker by inserting a hose pipe into his rectum in a tyre workshop in May last year.

Additional district and sessions judge Jagdeep Kaur Virk also imposed a fine of ₹2 lakh on the convict, Kashmir Singh, a resident of Vishkarma Colony, Ludhiana. A case under Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) was registered on May 11, 2017, a day after the incident took place.

A complaint was lodged by the victim’s mother, a resident of Nirmal Nagar in the city, that her son, who worked as a helper at the workshop, Wheel Point, did not return home on May 10 evening. At 10:30 pm, an employee from the workshop came to inform that her son was seriously injured and he could not be brought home, she said. She rushed to the workshop and found her injured son whom Kashmir Singh and the workshop owner were taking to hospital. The victim died while receiving treatment.

The complainant had told the police that the incident took place at the workshop when her son was drying his clothes after they got wet while washing a car. Kashmir Singh got angry over this and inserted the pipe into his rectum, it was alleged.

She also alleged that the workshop owner’s wife Sartaj Kaur called her after her son’s death and asked her to cremate the body before morning so that it is does not become a police case. She also claimed that she and her husband were locked inside the workshop but managed to get out.

Initially, Sartaj was named as an accused, but charges against her were dropped as her involvement could not be established.