MYSORE: A girl was allegedly forced to beg for alms in front of a temple on Monday by her father and a relative as punishment for taking her studies lightly.
The class VII girl, wearing her school uniform, was found sitting with a silver plate with a Rs 2 coin in it in front of Sri Chandramouleshwara Temple in V V Mohalla at 8.45 pm while her father Prakash M P Swamy, a coffee planter in Somwarpet, and a city resident along with a woman Asha, sat in a car and watched her.
When passersby asked the girl why she was sitting there, she narrated her tale.
Soon, people gheraoed Prakash and the woman and took them to task for punishing the girl.
The police, who arrived at the spot, took the three to the police station.
According to the girl, who had lost her mother a few years ago, her father Prakash reprimanded her on Monday morning for waking up late saying she was not serious about her exams.
After she returned from the exam, her father gave her a plate and forced her to beg.
However, Prakash said he was only trying to make his daughter understand the harsh realities so that she would take her studies more seriously.
Though he admitted to taking her to the temple, he denied having forced her to beg, saying he would never do that “being the son of a tahsildar”.
He also said the girl was deliberately taking her studies lightly.
Jayalakshmipuram police have registered a case under the Juvenile Justice Act based on a complaint filed by a local NGO.