Two teens booked in MP for forcing minors to chant religious slogan

Police said the incident seemed to have been triggered by the 16-year-old for admonishing the three minor victims about smoking.

Madhya Pradesh police on Friday booked two teenagers in the Ratlam district of the state for allegedly repeatedly slapping three younger Muslim boys till they chanted ‘Jai Shri Ram’.

A video of the alleged incident, which police said occurred a month ago, went viral on social media.(Representative Image)

A video of the alleged incident, which police said occurred a month ago, went viral on social media and prompted the family of the three victims -- aged 13, 11 and six -- to approach the police.

Talking to the media, additional superintendent of police (ASP) Rakesh Khakha said, “The accused, aged 15 and 16, have been apprehended and we are interrogating them.”

They were booked under sections 296, 115(2), 126(2), 351(2), 196 and 3 (5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), police added. The accused were booked for offences relating to committing an obscene act, causing hurt, wrongful confinement, criminal intimidation and promotion of enmity, hatred and disharmony between groups based on religion, police said.

HT could not independently verify the authenticity of the video clip.

“A video related to the beating of children has gone viral. The video is said to be about a month old,” Khakha said.

Police said the incident seemed to have been triggered by the 16-year-old for admonishing the three minor victims about smoking. In the video, one of the boys is purportedly seen as slapping the boys, asking if they will smoke. After repeated blows, one of the boys cried out in pain, and said “Allah”.

“What did you say, Allah,” the 16-year-old boy purportedly said in the video, as he was seen hitting the boys again and again. The beating continued and only stopped after the boys switched to “Jai Shri Ram”, according to the video, which has not been verified by the police yet, adding that the IT cell is checking it.

The accused disputed the version of the events and told the police that the victims were asking for a lighter to light the cigarette and they slapped them to teach lesson but they didn’t ask them to chant “Jai Shri Ram”. One of the boys started chanting it himself, the accused told police, according to an investigating officer, requesting anonymity.

“It was a very disturbing video and children were mercilessly thrashed,” said Imran Khan, a local social worker, adding that the youngest child was an orphan, who lived with his grandparents.

An uncle of the 13-year-old boy said, “The children are in depression after the incident but they don’t share anything to us. We came to know about it from the video.”