Boy loses leg because of 20 cents in India

September 13th, 2009

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) — Doctors had to amputate the leg of a 13-year-old snack vendor who was thrown off a moving train after he reportedly did not have money to bribe a guard, authorities said Sunday.

Part of Mohammed Salahuddin’s leg was removed below the knee after it was badly damaged after the fall, said Amit Lodha, a railway police superintendent.

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According to published reports, the suspect allegedly hurled Salahuddin off the train on Thursday in anger because he did not have Rs 10 (20 cents) to pay in bribes for selling snacks on board.

“The (arrested) constable has denied these allegations. But he indeed has been found to have thrown the boy out of the train,” Lodha told CNN.

The guard was sent to jail Sunday for the incident, which took place in India’s Bihar state, officials said. He faces attempted murder among other charges.

In August, Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh admitted his country was faced with “pervasive corruption”.

“The malaise of corruption, so sapping of our efforts to march ahead as a nation, should be treated immediately and effectively,” Singh warned. source