A 16-year-old boy facing trial under the Juvenile Justice Act for murder, keeping illegal arms, loot and theft escaped on Tuesday evening from the observation home at Dumardaga for children in conflict with the law, exposing once again the poor security at the facility.

The boy, who was kept at the home since December 5 last year, used a volleyball net to scale the 15-foot-tall boundary wall that has another 3 feet of barbed wire. After he jumped from the wall, another inmate of the home raised the alarm but the boy could not be caught, an official at the home said.

The net was used in volleyball games at the home.

“There were two boys who had planned to escape but due to the alertness of the security personnel only one could flee,” said Venkatesh Kumar, officer in-charge of the Sadar police station that has jurisdiction over the area.

On April 1 last year, four children in conflict with the law had escaped from the observation home the same way — with the help of a volleyball net. After the incident, the then chairman of state commission for the protection of child rights Arti Kujur had visited the observation home and pointed out that there were only five personnel for the home while the total requirement was 24.

At present there are 10 personnel.

On June 20, 2016, seven boys aged between 14 and 17 years had made a rope out of four bed-sheets, tied bricks at one end for weight support and used it to scale the boundary wall.

On September 15, 2015, another group of seven escaped in a similar fashion from the same home, but three of the boys returned the same day.

On October 20, 2007, six boys had taken advantage of festivities to flee the facility.

Found hanging

Hazaribagh: Convicted prisoner Yogesh Chauhan, 35, a resident of Jharia in Dhanbad , was hanging found hanging from the iron rod of his high security cell at the jail here in the early hours of Wednesday. Jail superintendent Hamid Akhtar said Chauhan was serving life term in a murder case. Jail sources said Chauhan was mentally ill and his father had filed an RTI plea a to know what medical treatment was being provided to his son.

This is the second such case in the jail since 2019.