Boy, 4, Thrown In Sewer By Farmer For Playing On His Field, Dies

A four-year-old boy died after allegedly being thrown into a sewer by a farmer in Machhiwara, about 40 km from Ludhiana, police said on Thursday. The farmer named Babu Lal was allegedly upset with children playing and flying kites in his fields, Inspector Davinder Pal Singh, SHO Machhiwara police station, said.

For the past few days, some children of a nearby colony used to come to his field to pick up kites that had fallen there and play afterwards, damaging the farmer's crops, he said.

On Wednesday evening, when the children came to pick up a kite, Lal, who is originally from Uttar Pradesh, was already standing in the field with a stick. As soon as the children entered the field he ran after them. Except for one Anshu, the rest of the children managed to escape from the man.

After catching hold of the minor, Lal allegedly threw him into a nearby gutter, he said.

Police arrested the man and charged him with murder and handed over the child's body to the family after a post-mortem examination.

Geeta Devi, the mother of the victim said the police should get justice for his family and that can be achieved only when the murderer of her innocent son is hanged.

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