According to an Eye investigation, home-made bombs have killed or maimed at least 565 children in the Indian state of West Bengal during the past three decades.
What are these lethal gadgets, and how do they relate to West Bengal’s political violence? And why are so many Bengali kids suffering as a result?
Six boys from a slum in Kolkata, the capital of the West Bengal state of India, went outside to play cricket in a little lane on a sunny summer morning in May 1996.
Their shantytown was a hive of activity, tucked away in Jodhpur Park, a middle-class neighborhood. Voting in a general election took place on a holiday.
One of the youngsters, Puchu Sardar, nine, picked up a cricket bat and sneaked by stealthily.
