An eight-year-old student of a madrasa died after he sustained a head injury during a scuffle between two groups of minor boys in south Delhi’s Malviya Nagar on Thursday, police said. The scuffle broke out in the morning when students from madrasa objected to playing by some local boys on a land in front of the madrasa, the police said.
The police have registered a case of murder and apprehended four juvenile boys. An officer said that Mohammed Azeem ,who lived in the madrasa, collapsed during the scuffle and was declared brought dead at the hospital. According to the police, doctors said there were no external injuries on the deceased’s body.
A 11-year-old boy, also an eyewitness, said that he, along with Azeem and two others, were playing in the compound outside the madrasa. “They(other group of boys) threw fire crackers and stones at us. We had a fight when they started abusing. They were five. We were four. Four of them picked up Azeem and threw him on a bike nearby. They also threw him on a rickshaw. He fell unconscious,” the eyewitness said.
The police said they received a call at 10:10 am from a madrasa, informing one of their residents, a minor boy, had been declared dead at the MM Hospital in Malviya Nagar, after getting into a fight with the other boys of the neighbourhood. The victim studied and lived in the madrasa.
Deputy commissioner of police (south) Vijay Kumar said that a police team rushed to the spot and the hospital. “During initial inquiry, we found that the minor boy was a student of Madrasa ‘Dar-ul-Uloom-Faridiya’ and is a native of Haryana. The staff at the madrasa and other eyewitnesses told police that on Thursday morning four minor boys, all 12-year-olds, were playing in front of the madrasa. Five to six boys from the madrasa were also playing there,” the DCP said.
Kumar said, after some time, the two groups of children clashed during which Azeem sustained an injury on his head. “The students told their elders in the madrasa and the child was rushed to a hospital where the doctors pronounced him dead. There were no external injuries on the child’s body and post mortem reports are awaited to ascertain the cause of death. All four minor boys who were allegedly involved in the scuffle that led to the child’s death have been apprehended,” he said.
Mumtaz Ali, a teacher at the madrasa, who also claimed to be an eyewitness, said, “The boys from the jhuggis threw a stone at Azeem. They then threw fire crackers at Azeem and others. This led to a fight. When our boys objected and one of them came to us with a complaint, four boys picked up Azeem and threw him on a bike and later on a rickshaw.”
During questioning, the boys said that they often play on the vacant land in front of the madrasa but other boys from nearby slums oppose it.
