Crying kid’s dad, uncle mistaken for kidnappers

father and uncle of a six-year-old boy from Punjab were roughed up in west Delhi’s Rajouri garden on Wednesday after co-passengers of a bus they were travelling in suspected them of kidnapping the child.

In their zeal to “rescue” the boy, the mob roughed up the two men and tried to snatch the boy from them.

Some traffic policemen deployed nearby came to their rescue. They saved the two men from getting beaten up and helped sort out the matter.

Police said the boy, Vansh alias Tuktuk, was undergoing treatment at AIIMS and had come to Delhi a few days ago with his father Virender. They were staying at the child’s maternal grandfather Amarjeet’s place in Khyala. On Wednesday morning, the boy, his father and uncle boarded a DTC bus to go to AIIMS. As the bus neared Rajouri Garden, the boy began crying.

His father and uncle did their best to stop him from crying, but couldn’t succeed. “His crying drew the attention of other passengers. Since they did not find the child’s mother accompanying him, the passengers suspected that the child was being kidnapped by the two men,” said a traffic police officer.

When the passengers asked the men about their relationship with the boy, they felt offended but explained that they were his father and uncle. But that did not convince the passengers who began to manhandle the two men and snatch the boy from them.

Meanwhile, one of the passengers called the police control room. The traffic staff of Rajouri Garden was alerted and the bus stopped. “As the passengers and suspects got off the bus, a large, hostile crowd gathered . The crowd threatened to beat the two men up,” said a traffic officer.

The policemen intervened and took the boy and the men to Rajouri Garden police station . The police then went on to verify the relationship of the boy with the two men.