Suspected of stealing 5 kg of wheat, three Dalit boys were allegedly thrashed and paraded with shaved heads and blackened faces by two poultry farm owners in a village in Uttar Pradesh's Bahraich. The incident was reported on Tuesday from Tajpur Tedia village under the Nanpara police station limits of Bahraich district, police said on Thursday.
The accused allegedly thrashed the three boys, aged 12-14 years, shaved their heads, blackened their faces, wrote 'thief' on their forearms, and paraded them around the village with their hands tied, police said.
Nanpara SHO Pradeep Singh said that based on a complaint by the victims' family members, a case was registered on Wednesday against four accused persons -- Nazim Khan, Qasim Khan, Inayat and Sanu -- under relevant sections of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and SC/ST Atrocities Prevention Act.
Sanu, a former village head, is absconding, while the remaining three have been arrested, Singh said.
Considering the sensitivity of the matter, adequate forces have been deployed in the village as a precautionary measure, the police said.
Family's Allegations
As per the victims' families, the duo tortured the boys as they did not report to the poultry farm for work. As per a report by news agency PTI, the victims, belonging to Dalit and OBC communities, said that Nazim and Qasim, who together ran a poultry farm in the village, accused them of stealing 5 kg of wheat.
"The duo hurled casteist slurs, and tried to strangle them with electric cables before parading them around the village with their heads shaved, faces blackened, and 'thief' written on their forearms," they told PTI.
Sanu and Inayat accompanied the accused and threatened the boys, they alleged. The accused even filmed the act on their mobile phones, the villagers claimed.
The victim's family members, meanwhile, claimed that Nazim and Qasim tortured the three boys since they did not report to the poultry farm for work.