16-year-old boy beaten to death for talking to girl in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur

Kanpur: A teenager was allegedly beaten to death by a group of boys for talking to the girlfriend of one of the accused persons in Kidwai Nagar locality here, police said Thursday. The victim, a student of class 11, was beaten up Wednesday, said Anurag Mishra, the Station House Officer of Kidwai Nagar police station.

The 16-year-old boy was rushed to the Lala Lajpat Rai hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead.

He was a friend of the girl living in his neighbourhood but her boyfriend did not approve of him talking to her frequently and had warned the victim many times in the past to stay away, the SHO said. On Wednesday evening, the teenager was spotted talking to the girl by her boyfriend who called his other friends and assaulted him, resulting in his death, the SHO added. A case was registered against the accused persons, he said.

A similar instance of mob justice was reported from Delhi earlier this week when a 16-year-old boy was tied by a mob of locals and beaten to death over suspicion of stealing. The Delhi police arrested four people in connection with the assault and are currently on the lookout for two others who are still at large. Investigators have said that the boy was tied up and thrashed with wooden sticks by the accused for over three hours before the assailants threw his body in a narrow lane near his own residence. The recent spike in cases of mob justice has got the Supreme Court and the central government looking for ways to spread awareness against mob violence.