Ludhiana: A nine-year-old boy who vanished while playing outside his home on Thursday has been found murdered in a wasteland, amid harrowing allegations that police delays and a dispute over jurisdiction cost the child his life.The body of the nine-yer-old boy was discovered on Saturday afternoon in dense bushes in the village of Kasabad, just 2 km from his home. His throat had been slit. The boy went missing on Thursday afternoon. His mother, still in shock, said the family had spent hours searching the neighbourhood before turning to the authorities for help.The family alleges they were then caught in a bureaucratic nightmare. The mother claimed they first approached the Basti Jodhewal police, who told them the case was outside their jurisdiction. They were turned away by the Meharban police station subsequently before finally being directed to the Salem Tabri station. “We begged the police to search for my son, but they did not listen to us,” the mother said. “We were made to go from one station to another.“Police have now dismissed the family’s allegations of negligence as “baseless” and maintained that the family initially had searched on their own and did not reach the first police station until late Thursday night. Frustrated by the lack of progress, the family and local villagers staged a protest outside the Salem Tabri police station on Saturday, blocking the Jalandhar Bypass. Holding photographs of the missing child, they accused the police of inaction.It was only after this public outcry that police launched a formal search operation. By scanning local CCTV footage, investigators spotted a man walking toward the bushes with the boy following closely behind him. When officers reached the location, they discovered the boy’s body.Additional deputy commissioner of police (ADCP-1) Sameer Verma stated that preliminary evidence suggests Aman was murdered on the day he disappeared. CCTV shows a man walking toward the bushes; notably, the boy appeared to be following him voluntarily, suggesting the attacker may have been a known figure or a neighbour.Police suspect the boy was made to suffer sexual assault before being murdered to silence him. However, they await the results of an autopsy to confirm these details. No suspects are currently in custody, but police are reviewing further footage to identify the man in the video.Police Response to Negligence ClaimsADCP Verma dismissed the family’s allegations of negligence as “baseless”. He maintained that the family initially had searched on their own and did not reach the first police station until late Thursday night. He claimed that the Basti Jodhewal police had notified the Salem Tabri station of the case promptly and that a formal first-information report (FIR) had been registered as soon as the family had arrived at the correct precinct on Friday.Missing Person: Immediate StepsIn the event of a missing child, families are urged to bypass local jurisdictional confusion by utilizing national resources:National Emergency Number | Immediately dial 112 (India’s emergency response system). All calls are logged centrally, which prevents “jurisdictional” excuses by local stationsThe ‘Zero FIR’ | Legally, any police station is required to register a “Zero FIR” for a missing child, regardless of where the incident occurred. They must then transfer the case to the appropriate station themselvesImmediate CCTV Preservation | If a child is missing, residents should immediately ask neighbours and shops to save their CCTV footage, as many systems overwrite data within 24 to 48 hours
