Waseem (14), a co-accused in a theft case, was brought to the Faizabad Juvenile jail six months earlier. A few weeks ago, he contracted Hepatitis B.

The family has alleged that the boy was mistreated in jail and the officials had not provided proper treatment during his illness.

District Probation Officer Mukul Maitrey confirmed that the cause of death was Hepatitis B, and said the body will be handed over to the family members after the postmortem.

The Additional Superintendent of Faizabad Juvenile jail, A P Dubey said the police arrested Waseem and he was sent to jail on April 8.

He had fever from September 1 and was being treated at Shri Ram Hospital in Ayodhya. On September 11, he was admitted to the Faizabad district hospital and moved to Lucknow’ CSMMU on September 12, where he died late on Sunday night.

His mother, Roshan Jahan, told The Indian Express that a week ago, her son had complained to her about being ill-treated by the jail administration officials.

“My son was ill for a long time. When I met him a week ago he was not able to talk properly and when I complained to the jail authorities, they only banned me from meeting him,” she said.

According to Nirupam Mishra, member of Juvenile Court board, over two dozen juvenile prisoners lodged in the jail are suspected to be suffering from Hepatitis B, to which the jail authorities are turning a blind eye.