The boy initially tried to mislead officers, telling them he hit the child because he kept crying for milk. (Representational) The boy initially tried to mislead officers, telling them he hit the child because he kept crying for milk. (Representational) On August 18, 2016, a 15-year-old boy passed a remark at a girl, the same age as him, while she was walking to her friend’s place in the narrow streets of Mangolpuri. At the time, neither knew this would be the beginning of a tumultuous love affair, ending in the murder of their two-month-old son. According to family members and neighbours, the girl eloped in 2017, and married him soon afterwards. Today, she is one of the witnesses in a case against the boy for allegedly killing the infant. The boy (17), apprehended last week, has claimed before police that he killed the infant as he suspected his wife had an affair — and that he wasn’t the child’s father. Their lives torn apart, those who know them say both could have had better futures if they had never met. The girl, a Class IX dropout, was the eldest of her three siblings, and stayed with her family in a one-room house. Her father works as an autorickshaw driver, while her mother sells ice-cream. The boy lived two lanes away when they first met in 2016. “I first saw him when I was going to meet a friend. He was drinking beer near my house, and he passed a remark as I crossed him. I ignored him at the time, but he started coming over to my house, where my mother ran an ice-cream stall. We exchanged phone numbers and started chatting. He told me he worked at a general store — at the time, I had no idea he took drugs and stole to make ends meet,” she said, sitting on a bed at her parents’ house and holding on to her younger brother for support. The courtship lasted a year, after which they decided to elope. But since they didn’t have anywhere to go, the girl stayed with a friend in Nangloi for around three months. “We were not aware of her affair, and lodged an FIR with Delhi Police, thinking she had gone missing,” her mother said, angrily washing dishes. Three months on, they married at a temple and started staying together in Raghubir Nagar, at the home of the boy’s uncle. But three week’s later, the boy’s relative told him to find another place. The two then moved into a rented accommodation at Prem Nagar in Nangloi. The girl took up a job as a saleswoman at a nearby store, becoming the sole breadwinner as the boy remained addicted to drugs. On the day of the murder, the woman found the home locked and her husband standing outside the building On the day of the murder, the woman found the home locked and her husband standing outside the building Seeds of doubt Two months after they got married, the boy was apprehended on charges of theft and sent to a correctional home. The girl, meanwhile, discovered she was pregnant, and moved in with a friend. “I did not have an ID proof, so I couldn’t see him at the correctional home. His friend and his uncle would go to meet him. Now I realise that they provoked my husband by telling him a cooked up story about me having an affair. They planted the seed of doubt in his head — that the child was not his,” she said. After she made several visits to lawyers’ offices, the boy was later released within a month. On February 21, she had the baby at a private hospital. “My relatives convinced me to accept her. I went to meet her in the hospital and asked her to stay with us for a few weeks,” her mother said, adding that she eventually found the couple a flat on rent nearby. Shreechand Sharma, the owner of the building where the incident took place on April 21, said, “The girl’s mother convinced me to give the home on rent. The couple didn’t have valid ID, so the mother gave hers. They stayed on the third floor for Rs 2,500 a month.” Things seemed better, but every once in a while, the boy’s uncle would taunt him, saying the child was not his. “We often fought, but he never raised this issue with me. He was loving and caring towards the child,” she said. A violent end On the day of the murder, she left home for an interview, and returned around 3.30 pm. She found the home locked and her husband standing outside the building. “Once I entered, I found my son on the bed. He wasn’t moving. My husband told me that he had fainted after falling off the bed. I took him to the hospital, where he was declared dead. Doctors found injury marks on his body and informed police. When they questioned me, I told them I suspected my husband. They eventually found him taking drugs near a railway track in Mangolpuri,” she said. The boy initially tried to mislead officers, telling them he hit the child because he kept crying for milk. “But on sustained questioning, he admitted that he suspected his wife of having an affair. He didn’t show guilt or remorse,” said a senior police officer. The boy’s uncle, as well as a close friend, refused to believe he could have done it. “Both his parents are dead. He made ends meet by working as a waiter and, occasionally, a DJ at weddings. He did his best to support the family,” his uncle said. His friend said they were “opposed” to his relationship with the girl, but made their peace when they had a child. Her future uncertain, the girl said she will focus on getting justice for her child. “I have lost everything, but I will pursue this case and request the judges to give him a harsh punishment,” she said. For all the latest Delhi News, download Indian Express App

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