Parents in Cambodia Chain Up Delinquent Son For Seven Months

Parents in Cambodia Chain Up
Delinquent Son For Seven Months
PHNOM PENH, - A delinquent 13-year-old Cambodian boy has been kept chained to his bed for seven months after his parents became fed up with his constant stealing.
The Khmer-language Koh Santepheap said the boy's parents -- a bicycle puncture repairer and a duck seller -- attached their son at the end of a two meter-long chain at their Phnom Penh home after he stole money to play video games.
"Perhaps they will keep him chained until he becomes a young man," the report quoted a neighbour in the impoverished area as saying. "But I don't know if that will teach him a lesson."
A government spokesman said police officials were "probably too busy" to look into the case as it represented a non-fatal "domestic dispute."
"Unless someone gets killed in a domestic dispute the police generally don't have time to get involved," said the official, who requested anonimity.
Two local human rights groups said they were investigating the case, and would appeal to the parents to release the boy.
28 May 1999
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