Behrampore, Feb. 2: A nine-year-old boy was stripped of his pants, tied to a bamboo pole and beaten up only 200 metres from the police station here this morning after he was allegedly caught opening a motorcycle’s tool box.

Police said people sitting at a nearby tea stall saw Mahesh Rao (name changed) trying to unlock the tool box with keys of various shapes.

“They thought the boy was a thief and raised the alarm. About 100 people rushed to catch him,” said an officer of the Behrampore police station, about 200km from Calcutta.

Tea stall owner Sankar Mondal saw the boy “moving surreptitiously” towards the motorcycle around 11.

Law clerk Amin Biswas had left the two-wheeler behind and gone shopping.

Sankar said: “The boy did not utter a word when being beaten up or being tied to the pole. He broke down as his pants were pulled down.”

A housewife who did not dare to protest said: “I don’t know whether he is a thief or not. But how can you treat a child like that? I hang my head in shame…I couldn’t help him.”

The police came half an hour after the torture began and rescued the boy.

Till late this evening, the boy refused to give his parents’ name or address to the police. He only said he was from Kandi, 25km away.

He has been arrested for the attempted heist after the owner of the motorcycle lodged a complaint.

We have sent him to a home for destitute boys in Behrampore. He will be produced before the juvenile court in Salt Lake tomorrow,” said Dilip Ganguly, the inspector in charge of the police station.

A local resident lodged another complaint later in the day against those who beat up the boy.

The police refused to identify the complainant, but said a probe has begun.