4 minors arrested for allegedly assaulting a teenager in Kochi following a dispute over Instagram messages

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Elamakkar police on Monday arrested four minor boys for allegedly assaulting a teenage boy in Kochi following a dispute over some Instagram posts.

The boys and their parents were summoned to the police station, the day after a 40-year-old woman, who is the mother of one of the minors, was arrested and placed in judicial custody in connection with the incident. The police registered the case based on the initiative of the victim’s mother, who learned about the alleged assault after noticing marks of injury on her son’s body.

“Five boys who were visibly involved in the assault have been identified and four have been arrested. One of them is out of station. The process is on to produce the boys before the Juvenile Court,” said a city police officer.

A video of the alleged incident is doing the rounds on social media, showing a group of alleged teenagers brutally assaulting a boy and hurling insults at him in the presence of the arrested woman. The victim was allegedly invited to the woman’s rented house in Edappally on Friday on the pretext of settling a dispute between him and the woman’s son over some alleged obscene messages sent from the victim’s phone.

Police sources said three of the arrested boys had previously been cautioned following their involvement in alleged attempted theft and drug-related offences.

The arrested woman has been charged with offenses including attempt to commit culpable homicide, unlawful assembly, intimidation and unlawful imprisonment under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

Published – 9 Nov 2026 14:20 IST