Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: A video purportedly showing a 17-year-old boy being stripped and assaulted surfaced on social media on Sunday, prompting Latur police to register a case under the Pocso Act , arrest one accused and launch a search for three others.
Police said the incident took place in June but came to light only after the video got widely circulated online. Latur SP Amol Tambe said three police teams have been formed to track down the absconding accused. Police said one of the accused, who has a criminal record, has been arrested.
Within hours of taking cognisance of the footage, investigators traced the victim and identified all four accused. A proposal to extern him from Latur district was already pending. Efforts are underway to arrest the remaining three accused and seize the vehicle allegedly used in the kidnapping. Police also warned that revealing the identity of a minor victim is an offence and urged people to immediately stop sharing the video on social media and messaging platforms.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the accused were not known to him.
Everyone must act responsibly and protect the child’s identity and privacy,” he said. The victim, a native of Dharashiv district, had come to Latur for studies. Tambe appealed to the public not to circulate the video, saying it could expose the identity of the minor victim. “As the victim is a minor, people must refrain from forwarding the video or uploading it on social media.