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Kid paraded naked in Mumbai says, ‘We tried to pay Re1 for chakli, but shopkeeper refused’
Mumbai city news: A counsellor said they were assaulted as they used to play and make noise in the area
One of the two children, who were stripped and paraded naked for allegedly stealing chaklis worth Re1 from an Ulhasnagar shop, told a counsellor that he had tried to pay the shopkeeper the amount but he refused to take it and later assaulted them.
The counsellor said the kid told her he had tried to pay Re1 to main accused Mehmood Pathan,69, but they were still assaulted as they used to play and make noise in the area. A police officer from Hill Line police station said, “The children have told a counsellor that they had offered Mehmood Re1. They also said they were stripped, beaten up, forced to wear a garland of shoes and paraded naked because whenever they used to play in the vicinity, Mehmood used to scold them for making noise. The children also told the councillor that Mehmood had warned them many times to not play near his shop but they couldn’t find any other place in the space-crunched slum area.”
On Saturday, the two children, aged eight and nine years, were not only beaten up, stripped and paraded naked, but were also forced to do 100 sit-ups and eat chaklis. The Hill Line police arrested three accused – Mehmood Pathan,69, and his two sons Irfan, 25, and Tavakkal,20, who are in police custody till May 26.
After the Maharashtra Commission for Protection of Child Rights intervened, relevant sections of the Information Technology Act and Juvenile Justice Act were also added against the three accused. “There are many people who are coming ahead to help the family of the children,” added the officer.
Meenal Thakore, the chairperson of the Child Welfare Committee, said, “With the Juvenile Justice Act added in the case, the accused can be sentenced to three years’ imprisonment and asked to pay Rs1 lakh to each child. They can also be ordered to deposit Rs1 lakh on each child’s name which would be given to the kids after a specific time period.”
