BAREILLY: Two children, both cousins aged 10 and 11, were tied and thrashed with a belt by a shopkeeper for allegedly stealing a packet of candies in Budaun district on Thursday night. The cousins belong to the minority community.
An FIR has been registered against the shopkeeper and his friend at Kotwali police station “for offence of wrongful confinement and voluntarily causing hurt”. The children were sent for a medical examination on Friday.
Both live in the same locality in Budaun city and had gone to buy candies in Raja Mandi at about 8pm when they were caught by the shopkeeper. They were accused of stealing candies. The shopkeeper allegedly tied their hands with a rope inside the shop for nearly an hour and beat them up. A local informed their parents who rescued the kids.
The children’s kin told police that they had sent them to buy two packets of candies for other kids in the neighbourhood. They bought one packet of candies from a shop and the shopkeeper asked them to buy the second one from another shop. However, the other shopkeeper misunderstood that the children had stolen the candies from his shop and thrashed them, their families stated.
SHO of Budaun Kotwali police station told TOI, “An FIR has been registered against two persons after conducting the medical examination of both the kids. There are visible injuries and their statement has been recorded at the police station. We will take appropriate action as per law.”
