Three children belonging to a tribal community were allegedly beaten up and their heads tonsured after a shopkeeper suspected them of stealing metal scrap from his shop in Uttar Pradesh’s Auraiya district on Wednesday. The children, in their teens, were also paraded through a market with the accused using casteist slurs against them, it was alleged. Police have arrested one of the accused, Rajiv Gupta, after lodging an FIR against three people over the alleged incident. The two other accused, identified as Sudeep Shakya and Raju Shakya, are absconding. The victim told The Indian Express, “Three people beat me and two of my friends. They said I have stolen metal from a shop. They called a barber and shaved our heads. We were paraded through the village and the market. They beat us up also and then took us to the police station where they handed us to the cops.” A senior police officer said that one of the three children is an orphan. “All of them collect scrap,” he said. The complaint, lodged by the mother of one of the victims, reads, “On Wednesday, my son had gone to collect scrap with his two friends. They were beaten up by the accused, and half their heads were shaved. The accused used casteist slurs against the children and paraded them through the local market.” Police have lodged the FIR under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) of the Indian Penal Code and provisions of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Auraiya SP Charu Nigam said, “Information was circulating on social media that heads of three children were shaved after they were suspected of committing theft. A case has been lodged. The other accused will be arrested soon.” Nigam said the case is being investigated by the circle officer concerned.
