Four-year-old charged with booth capturing and firing

Patna, July 23 (UNI) A four-year-old boy in Gaya district was served with an arrest warrant on charges of booth capturing and resorting to violence in last year's Panchatyat elections in Bihar.

In a similar case, the Bihar Police had booked a two-year-old boy last month in an alleged murder case.

An FIR was lodged against four-year-old Raunak Singh by police, forcing his father to bring the child to the local court today for surrendering.

Raunak was sent back without being produced before the court after lawyers sensed some mistake in the case.

Reports reaching here said the boy was served with a warrant by the local court accusing him of being directly involved in the alleged capturing of a booth and opening fire to scare people in the locality during the last year's Panchayat election.

Later speaking to newspersons, the district Superintendet of Police described the incident as a faux paus since the warrent did not mention Raunak's name as the FIR was lodged against the cousins of one Jhalak Singh in the area, along with 15 others, following their alleged involvement in the violence.

It is not police's fault since neither the name nor the age of the child is mentiontioned in the warrant, served to the cousin of Jhalak Singh, the SP said and promised to look into the issue.

The case of the two-year-old boy had raised a public outcry which forced the authorities to backtrack and acknowledge its mistake of charging the boy on wrong identity.

UNI