A seven-year-old boy was sexually assaulted and set on fire by two unidentified youths at Padmanagar in Bhiwandi town in the district on Saturday, the police said on Sunday.
The victim had gone to eat at a ‘langhar’ (community kitchen), a police officer said, when the accused took the boy to an isolated place and sexually assaulted him.
When he resisted, they set him on fire, the officer said.
30 per cent burns The boy suffered 30 per cent burns, he said.
A case has been registered under Sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 377 (sodomy) of the Indian Penal Code and those of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012.