Boy held upside down & flogged, two arrested

TT, Samserganj: A video went viral in Murshidabad on Thursday, showing a grocer and his employee flogging a 10-year-old boy who was hanging upside down.

Safikul Islam and his employee Najibul Sheikh were arrested on Thursday night. The duo allegedly beat up the boy accusing him of stealing Rs 900 from the grocer at a market in Samserganj.

Another villager was also arrested for allegedly uploading the video on social media platforms.

The Class IV student's father said: "I had sent my son to the market to sell vegetables grown on our land. Around 10.30am, a grocer and his employee at the market accused my son of stealing Rs 900 from them and beat him up in full public view. They flogged him with a stick after hanging him upside down. He was suspended from his ankles."

"Local people informed me about the incident. I rushed to the spot and found my son tied to a pillar. I paid the grocer Rs 900 and brought him home. The grocer called my son a thief and threatened me. So, we fled home in fear and took shelter at a relative's home at a neighbouring village," the father said, adding that the boy did not steal money.