AP: Boy asks police to file case against friend for pencil theft

Hyderabad: In February this year, a group of primary school boys in Andhra Pradesh’s Kurnool, walked up to the Pedakaduburu police station to report a pencil theft.

A boy from the group walked up to a policeman with the ‘accused’ (also another boy his age) alongside him and requested the policeman to file a case against his friend for allegedly stealing his pencil. While it has been over 10 months since the incident, the video of the “interrogation” has been making rounds on the internet recently.

The officer behind the camera advised Hanumatha to forgive the “accused” and made both the boys shake hands. For a second time, Hanumantha insisted that the police arrest the “accused”.

The police initially tried to explain that the process of bail would be complicated but upon further insistence from Hanumantha, the police concluded the matter by saying that they shall arrest the boy and asked the complainant to leave.

It is inferable that the police did not arrest a child for stealing a pencil.

In a follow-up video, Hanumantha says that the “accused” returned his pencil and hence he decided not to register a case.

Criticism by Twitteratis

The sweet story shared by the Andhra Pradesh police on their Twitter account has also received criticism from various Twitter users.

Users claimed that the police have let their subconscious state of dealing with real-life cases takeover by asking the child to forgive the “accused” rather than holding him accountable for his deed.