Three minor boys were made to dip their hands in boiling oil in order to prove that they had not stolen a mobile handset in Girol village of Sagar district,a gateway to the backward Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh. The test took place at the house of one Preetam Kurmi,whose nephew had lost his mobile phone when he,along with the accused boys,was having a bath near the village well on June 13. The ordeal followed an oath the three boys took at a Hanuman temple vouching for their innocence but it did not help. Preetam and his family told Lakhan,Deepak and Akash,all barely into their teens,that their fingers will burn only if they have stolen the mobile not otherwise,and allegedly used force when the boys refused. The victims families alleged that the staff of the Agasod Police Station first refused to take their complaint and ill-treated them. Superintendent of Police (Sagar) Vijay Suryavanshi said Preetam had been booked under Sections 323 and 324 of the IPC. The SP,however,said the victims were made to dip their hands in boiling water.
