Fight over drinking water costs life of Lakhisarai boy

PATNA: Water scarcity in Lakhisarai district cost the life of a 16-year-old boy, who was attacked with a water bottle made of glass following a heated argument with another minor boy over the issue of who among them draws the water first.
The incident took place near Vidyapeeth Chowk under the Lakhisarai town police station area, around 147km northeast of Patna, on Friday evening. Two minor boys aged about 16 years and 11 years, respectively, had an altercation over fetching drinking water from a hand pump behind Balika Vidyapeeth at Lakhisarai.The victim was identified as Sanjay Kumar.
SHO of Lakhisarai town police station Sanjay Kumar Singh said on Saturday that the deceased and the attacker belonged to the same locality. The incident occurred when the senior boy pushed his junior at the hand pump, leading to a scuffle between the two. As the senior boy had caught hold of his junior, the latter attacked him with a bottle of water he was carrying with him.
The top edge of the bottle, which was damaged during the fight, was inserted into Sanjay’s neck causing grievous injuries to him. The accused fled the spot after the victim fell consciousness due to serious injuries. The matter came to the notice of Sanjay’s parents, when he didn’t return from the hand pump where he had gone to fetch water. His parents run a dhaba at Vidyapeeth Chowk.
Meanwhile, a truck driver spotted the victim bleeding profusely. He raised an alarm following which a number of people assembled at the spot. The injured was rushed to the sadar hospital at Lakhisarai where he was declared brought dead. “He died due to excess bleeding,” the SHO said.
The accused was taken into custody by the police and subsequently produced before a juvenile board, which later forwarded him to the Jamui-based remand home. “Both the boys used to play in the nearby playground in the evening,” said a police officer posted at the Lakhisarai town police station.
The accused told the interrogators that he didn’t intend to kill Sanjay but it happened in a fit of rage. “As I was feeling suffocation after being caught by the senior boy, I attacked him with the water bottle, which led to grievous injuries around his neck. He later died,” the SHO quoted the accused as saying.
Police said Sanjay, a school dropout, used to assist his father Binod Sao in his business. The entire Lakhisarai town is reeling from severe water crisis as water level has gone down leaving hand pumps dry.
“Life has virtually become a hell due to the water crisis in the town. Water has become a scarce commodity these days,” said Ratneshwar Pandey, a retired teacher of the town.