14-year-old in line of pellet fire from angry householder

[to_saptarshi]

Kite run ends in airgun attack
- 14-year-old in line of pellet fire from angry householder

The pursuit of a kite cost a teenager dear when he was shot in the wrist with an airgun on Sunday morning by an armed and dangerous householder.

Oscar Wilde’s Selfish Giant was played out without the happy twist in the tale on Rifle Range Road in Tiljala when Deboprosad Guha, 46, fired at Enayat Hussain, 14, for trying to retrieve his kite.

Guha was arrested in the afternoon and booked for causing grievous hurt with dangerous weapons and also criminal intimidation.

“Guha, who runs a lead manufacturing unit at his residence, told police that he had mistaken the boy to be a thief and fired at him with his airgun to prevent him from entering his house,” said a senior officer of Karaya police station.

Enayat, a shanty dweller on Palm Avenue, was flying a kite with his friends around 7.15am, when his kite-line got snapped and he ran after it with three of his friends.

“I saw the kite landing on the roof of 15/C Rifle Range Road. When I reached the house, a man threw down the kite from the window and told me to fetch it. As I went to pick up the kite, he started firing at me,” said Enayat, a student of Class VIII in Surendranath Chakraborty Institution of Garcha.

The boys dived for cover, but a pellet hit Enayat’s right hand and he fell to ground crying in pain.

Guha stopped firing and told the boys to take Enayat away and get him treated. “But when we threatened to raise an alarm, he took us inside the house and said he would call a doctor. When no doctor arrived and Enayat’s condition deteriorated, we forced our way out of his house and informed some elders in the locality, who rushed him to Chittaranjan Hospital,” said Sheikh Saddam, Enayat’s friend.

Enayat was declared “out of danger” a few hours later after doctors at Chittaranjan Hospital removed the pellet from his wrist.

“My child could have been killed by the pellet. The man must be punished,” said Ruksana Bibi, Enayat’s mother.

As news spread, angry residents of the area gathered outside the Guha residence. Some stones were hurled at his windows.

“Guha, who is a father of two, is infamous in the locality for his volatile temper and erratic behaviour. He had once beaten up a vegetable seller for peeling onions on the footpath in front of his gate and accused him of being a thief,” said Saraswati Ghosh, who runs a tea-stall next to 15/C Rifle Range Road.

Guha told the police that he had seen Enayat “moving suspiciously along the boundary wall” and then “even trying to scale the wall”.

Two cases of theft of lead machinery had occurred at his unit in the past week he alleged, trying to justify his act of aggression.

The police said no licence was needed to keep an airgun at home. Bailable charges were slapped on Guha, who will be produced in court on Monday.

Source : http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081103/j ... 055803.jsp

[TenX]

Sad incident.. It is irresponsible guys like these who make it harder for everyone else who is safe with guns!