Mumbai: 16-year-old homeless boy lynched at children’s home in Matunga, dies

The David Sassoon Children’s Home, Matunga

A 16-year-old orphan died at the David Sassoon Children's Home, Matunga, after being allegedly assaulted by four boys, including a 12-year-old, at the facility. The victim was brought to the shelter on August 6 after the DB Marg police found him loitering at Girgaon Chowpatty, and felt he was mentally unstable. The Shivaji Park police have registered a case of murder.

The police said Nishad apparently defecated inside the room where he had been put up and the stink enraged the four who became violent.

AS per the First Information Report, victim Hasvaan Rajkumar Nishad was unable to speak coherently. He spoke in a feeble tone, said the police. He was kept in the isolation area. There are 24 children there.

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The boy was assaulted in an isolation room. Representation pic

Since the pandemic, the children home has created an isolation facility and the newcomers have to spend the first 15 days there so that they don't transmit COVID-19. Nishad and the assaulters, all newcomers, were in the same room.

Around 7.30 pm on Tuesday, a staffer named Monika Futane found Nishad unconscious. He barely had a pulse. He was taken to Sion hospital where doctors pronounced him dead.

While the Shivaji Park cops first registered an accidental death case, they checked the CCTV footage of the isolation room. It showed four boys kicking and landing blows on Nishad. The footage also showed Nishad crashing to the floor, reads the FIR.

The post-mortem report also corroborated the violent attack. It said the teenager had died of "haemorrhagic shock due to blunt trauma to abdomen and chest", calling it unnatural. "One of the attackers is 12 years old, the rest are between 15 and 17 years," said a source.

This is not the first murder at the children's home. In May 2015, Amir Khan, a 17-year-old Powai boy, died after he was thrashed at the shelter. Twelve people, including three adults, were booked for murder.

"So far we have identified four children responsible for the incident and as they are minors we have now shifted them to the Dongri correction home. We will take further action as per the Juvenile Justice Act," said Pranay Ashok, deputy commissioner of police-Zone 5.

Orphans, children found loitering on roads and those rescued in various cases are lodged here, while juveniles found on the wrong side of the law are usually sent to the Dongri children's home, said officials.