The Madhya Pradesh Police on Friday booked two teenagers in Ratlam district for allegedly assaulting three Muslim boys and forcing them to shout “Jai Shri Ram”, reported the Hindustan Times.
The action came after a video of the assault, which reportedly took place nearly a month ago, was shared widely on social media on Thursday, The Indian Express reported. Subsequently, members of the Muslim community protested outside the local police station.
Police officers were deployed to control the crowd, according to the newspaper.
The clips circulating on social media purportedly showed a person hitting the three boys with a slipper while another person videographed the assault. The three boys were aged six, 11 and 13, the Hindustan Times reported.
On Friday, Additional Superintendent of Police Rakesh Khakha said that two teenagers aged 15 and 16 had been apprehended, according to the Hindustan Times. “We are interrogating them,” he said.
“A video related to the beating of children has gone viral,” added Khakha. “The video is said to be about a month old.”
The two teenagers were booked under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections related to committing an obscene act, voluntarily causing hurt to another person, wrongful restraint, criminal intimidation and promoting enmity between groups based on race, religion and language.
“The children are in depression after the incident but they don’t share anything to us,” an unidentified family member of the 13-year-old boy told the Hindustan Times. “We came to know about it from the video.”
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