BHOPAL: An 11-year-old boy from the scheduled caste (SC) was allegedly tied to a tree and beaten up by the priest of a Jain temple in Madhya Pradesh's Sagar after the child took almonds kept as offering, police said on Saturday.
The temple priest had allegedly thrashed the boy just out of suspicion. The incident happened inside the premises of Jain Mandir in Chhota Kareela locality under Moti Nagar police station of Sagar district on Thursday.
A video of the shocking incident went viral on Friday. The video shows both the hands of the boy being tied to a tree by the priest, even as some local residents try to intervene and rescue the minor.
In the 1.12 minutes, the boy is seen crying and making desperate pleas to local residents to save him. "Uncle Ji, please humko bacha lo (uncle please save me)."
But the temple priest kept tying the hands of the boy with separate ropes to a tree with the help of a teenager.
"Go and mind your own business, he was stealing offerings from inside the temple," the priest is seen telling local residents when they try to intervene, questioning if will he take the boy's life for the small mistake.
"Boola Baap ko... (Call your father)," the priest can be heard asking the weeping boy while pulling his hand-tied with rope. With the video of the incident going viral, the Moti Nagar police booked the concerned Jain Temple priest.
"A case has been registered against Rakesh Jain (the temple priest) under IPC Sections, besides provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and investigations are underway," Moti Nagar police station in-charge Satish Singh told The New Indian Express on Saturday.
The boy's family said that he was standing near the temple's gate and the priest got angry after he entered the temple, and allegedly beat him up. The police said there were injury marks on the minor's body.
The accused priest claimed he suspected that the boy picked up almonds from the offerings, and he tied him to a tree so that the minor couldn't run away.
Based on a complaint lodged by the boy's father, a case has been registered against Rakesh Jain, a priest at Jain Siddaytan Mandir in Kareela, Motinagar police station in-charge Satish Singh said.
A case has been registered against the accused priest under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the official said, adding that no arrest has been made so far.