Punjab: Boy who killed, ate 9-yr-old confesses, victim's parents seek trial as adult

Ludhiana: A minor, who was accused of killing a 9-year-old boy, then removing his heart and eating his flesh, has admitted to committing the crimes, Punjab police officials said on Sunday.

The parents of the victim have also demanded the crime to be considered as “heinous and rarest of rare” and treat the suspect as an adult.

The victim’s body was found in a sack, chopped into six pieces on Tuesday, near the suspect’s house. Both the victim and the suspect lived in the same locality, within a mere few metres.

According to a report in The Indian Express, the inconsolable parents have now asked the minor suspect to be tried as an adult, as more details of the bone chilling incident surface.

“We won’t accept court’s verdict if he is set free after a few years. We want life term or death penalty for him. If he is a child, then wasn’t my son so?” questioned the mother.

His father was also quoted as saying, "I haven’t told my wife about the missing heart in the body. If they can’t do anything more than giving punishment of few years, they should hand him over to us. Treat him as an adult or give him to us."

While the teen suspect first denied the crime, he confessed after he was interrogated by the police. According to the report, the suspect also handed over the blood soaked shirt from the crime to the police.

The victim, Deepu was the second of four children of the migrant couple, Dilip Kumar and Sangeeta. His parents stated that he stayed at home and took care of his siblings. His mother works as a domestic help while his father is a daily wage labourer. The suspect’s parents are also migrants from Uttar Pradesh.

Following the December 16 gang-rape in Delhi, the Juvenile Justice Act was amended, allowing minors to be treated as adults in case of heinous crimes. The decision however lies with the court, police officials were quoted as saying. Earlier the maximum punishment for minor was three years at a juvenile home.