India: Judge acquits poverty-stricken teenager of assault, offers to pay his tuition fees

Patna: A judge in a local court in Bihar has acquitted a teenager of assault andannounced he will pay his tuition fees and not allow his studies to be disrupted due to severe financial crisis in the family.

The 16-year-old schoolboy who studies in Grade 10 in a government school in central Bihar’s Nalanda district had tried to intervene in a dispute his family had with some neighbours last year when the rival side registered a case against his family. He was also made an accused in the case and was charged with assaulting the complainant.

The boy’s family ekes out their living by working as daily wage labourers. The boy himself worked as a vendor and would sell eggs on the streets to continue his study.

Juvenile court judge in Biharsharif Justice Manvendra Mishra got hugely surprised when the teenager appeared in court in torn clothes with a schoolbag resting on his shoulder on Thursday.

He told the court that he used to sell eggs on the village streets during COVID-19-induced lockdown to support his study but now that his Class 10 board examination was getting closer, he could not afford to work as he is required to focus more on his study to get good marks in the examination.

He also wished to attend classes for English and Science at the local coaching institutes for proper preparation, leaving the judge moved.

“The statement of the minor seems to be true. As he is to appear for Matriculation examination this year and he seems serious about pursuing education, any punitive action against him will adversely affect his future,” Judge Mishra observed.

Before ordering closure of the case, the judge also announced to bear the coaching fees of the boy. The court also asked the coaching institutes not to publicise the name of the boy.

Last year, the same court had again absolved another teenager of theft charges and also directed the local administration to instantly provide food, clothes, and benefits of welfare schemes to his family after coming to know about the acute financial troubles in the family. The boy told the court that he had snatched a purse from a woman shopper in the locality to buy food stuff for his widowed mother and younger brother who had not eaten for days due to lockdown.

The little boy had lost his father some years back and hence the responsibility to take care of his family fell on his shoulder. He would work in roadside hotels, shops or in farmland to support his family but his all sources of income dried up due to lockdown, eventually prompting him to steal the purse of a woman.