Dalit boy stripped, forced to dance for wire theft

A 12-year-old Dalit boy was allegedly stripped naked, forced to dance and filmed after he was caught stealing wire from an event here, police said on Saturday.

A purported video showing the boy dancing to a song with four to five men sitting around surfaced online. In the video, the men were compelling the boy to dance with a smile.

The matter came to light after police found the video and located the victim. They encouraged his family to file a complaint, police said.

Based on the complaint by the victim's father, his son had attended a comedy event on Friday night, organized at a fair in GAD Circle. Around four to five men accosted his son between 1 am and 4 am. They accused him of stealing a wire and assaulted him.

The complainant further alleged that the accused stripped his son naked and forced him to dance. They also recorded the act, police said.

Based on the complaint, an FIR was lodged under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), they said.

Six people, including a father-son duo, were arrested in the case, they said. The accused were identified as Kshitij Gurjar (24) alias Bittu, Ashish Upadhyay alias Vikku (52), his son Yayati Upadhyay (24) alias Gungun, Gourav Soni (21), Sandeep Singh (30) alias Rahul Bannasha, and Sumit Kumar Sain (25), they added.

During the initial investigation, the police found that the six accused were part of a music firm and suspected the victim of stealing wire from their music system, DSP Manish Sharma said.

The accused were produced in court, Sharma added.