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GHAZIABAD: A Muslim boy was beaten for drinking water from a Hindu temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad, several Indian media reported today (Sunday).
According to Indian media, the 14-year-old boy’s family said he had gone inside the temple to drink water when the man, 23-year-old temple caretaker Shringi Nandan Yadav, caught and beat him.
The video of the incident purportedly showed Yadav kicking and punching the boy after he revealed his name and also his father’s name. “My son stopped to drink water from the temple as he was thirsty. He was beaten up after they asked about his identity. He suffered a head injury,” said the boy’s father.
“He was badly beaten up and humiliated. I don’t think there is any religion that can refuse water to a thirsty person,” he said while speaking to an Indian media outlet.
Ghaziabad police on Saturday registered a case against Yadav and Shivanand Saraswati, another caretaker who recorded the incident, and arrested both. Cases were registered against the two men under Indian Penal Code sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult to provoke breach of peace), 352 (assault or criminal force otherwise than on grave provocation), 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) and also provisions of the Information Technology Act.
Meanwhile, the temple authorities said that they had barred entry of people from non-Hindu communities. “There are several taps outside the temple from where people drink water. Our caretakers caught the boy spitting inside the temple. They have been arrested and we will seek to legal recourse to get them bail,” another caretaker of the temple.