Patna: In two horrific incidents, teenagers in two cities of India killed two young children.
In Patna, eight-year-old Satyam was killed by teenagers aged 13 years and 14 years. The boys saw Prakash Jha's film Apharan based on Bihar's Kidnapping mafia and decided to kidnap Satyam for ransom.
"We heard a story that one can earn a lot of money through kidnapping. Kidnappers don't talk for more than three seconds. We thought of demanding Rs 5 lakh as ransom, keeping the boy in captivity. We did not plan to kill him," said one of the kidnapper.
The boys planned for a month. They staked out of Satyam's home, mapped his schedule and then carried out the kidnapping. They then demanded a ransom of Rs 50 lakh but as time went by, they got scared and killed Satyam.
"After watching the film 'Apharan', they thought that kidnapping fetches a lot of money. So they hatched the plan and kidnapped the boy," said R Mallar Villi, SSP, Patna.
As the news of the death became public, there was anger on the streets of Patna. And the anger and grief at Satyam's home was mirrored in the neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh.
In Kanpur, a nine-year-old boy, Saddam, died after being attacked with a pair of scissors by his two friends, both aged ten. It is believed that this was in retaliation to Saddam pushing Golu off a toy horse the day before.
"He was snatching a kite, which my son didn't give. So he killed him," Saddam's mother Rukhsana said.
So, is it films again or is cinema simply reflecting real life? These incidents will no doubt reopen the old debate.