Eight-year-old electrocuted; rights panel orders notice

An eight-year-old boy was reportedly electrocuted while playing in a park in Peerkankaranai on Tuesday. The State Human Rights Commission has taken suo motu cognisance of the matter and ordered notices to authorities to file a detailed report on the matter. According to police sources, the deceased has been identified as Gowtham, elder son of Varadhan, a daily wager and his wife Nisha, residing in Sakthi Nagar housing board, near Tambaram. On Tuesday evening, the boy had gone to play with his friends at a park in the Peerkankaranai town panchayat. He came in contact with a live wire, which was reportedly dangling and protruding out of a lamp post, and was electrocuted. As the boy did not return home for a long time, the parents searched and found him unconscious in the park. They rushed him to a hospital with the help of neighbours, where he was declared brought dead.