Pawan cries whenever he remembers the incidence. Not that he is likely to forget getting beaten up by CRPF cadets for no fault of his. His friend Shoaib says, "They didn't let us go and held us for four hours. I did not know if I had done something wrong. One of them was drunk. When Azhiruddin fainted, they threatened us that they will kill us and throw our bodies in a well if we stayed there anymore. We ran from there with Azhiruddin."

The three teenagers say they were were brutally beaten by CRPF cadets in Bawana area of the national capital on the evening of July 31.

Their version of the event runs thus: Shoaib Sheikh (15), Pawan Kumar (15) and Azhiruddin Khan (16) went to pick jamun from the trees near the CRPF camp. Without realising they crossed the camp boundary. Soon CRPF cadets called them and took them to a well inside the camp. There they made all three do 200 sit-ups. They also forced them to stand on their knees. Then the cadets beat them up with sticks, breaking Azharuddin’s hand and seriously injuring Pawan and Shoaib on their legs and back.

After nursing them at home on Sunday night, Azhiruddin's father Razzak Khan called Child Line, an NGO, the next day and sought help. He along with Swati, manager in Child Line, went to the Narela police station where they were allegedly stopped from filing an FIR.

Swati alleges that head constable Sukhbeer Singh tried to scare the trio away and misbehaved with them. She said that when she went to meet the commandant of battalion number 55, he admitted holding the children captive and making them sit on their knees in the sun.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) has taken cognisance of the case.