Delhi: 16-yr-old begs on streets after mother disowns him for ‘waywardness’

The boy’s mother, who works for the ministry of finance, allegedly evicted him a few months back.

New Delhi: A 16-year-old boy in Lodhi Colony has been rendered homeless after allegedly being "disowned" by his mother, a government employee, who "gave up" on her son owing to his "waywardness", police said on Tuesday.

The boy has alleged that he was not being treated well and was evicted from his home by his own mother a few months back, they said.

"The boy had been staying at a friend's place since April but after his friend also expressed his helplessness in keeping him at his home any further, he was forced to stay in a park and beg," said a senior police officer.

The boy's mother, an employee in the Ministry of Finance, had separated from her first husband by mutual consent and got the custody of her son. Later, she got married to another man with whom she has two daughters. Her second husband died in 2012 due to liver cirrhosis.

The boy has also alleged that his step-father used to ill-treat him and lock him up.

"He studied till Class VIII in two schools and this year, his mother took him to get admission in an academy in Noida.

He couldn't clear the entrance test and after that his mother disowned him," the official said.

The complainant's mother, meanwhile, said a "false case" had been registered against her.

"If I wasn't giving him food for so many days, how could he have survived I asked him to move out in April and when he came back, I didn't allow him in," she said.

The mother said that she had "made all attempts" to get him on the right path but "he refused to mend his ways".

"He is a very intelligent boy but he uses his brain in destructive things. I got him admitted to good schools but he would bully students and not report to school. He would go missing for days and we would have no idea about his whereabouts," she said.

"I took him to an academy in Noida to get admission but he didn't write anything in the entrance test. What could I have done ," she asked.

She further alleged that the boy used to beat his younger sisters and had "destroyed" the atmosphere of their house.

"When he was staying with us, I used to ask him to not come home from school when I wasn't there and instead play in the park. He used to beat his sisters. He destroyed the atmosphere at our house," she said.

The boy has been rescued by the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) and taken to a childrens' home and a complaint filed against the mother, police said.