An 11-year-old boy was discovered roaming around with chains on his feet by a resident in Bhatindi on the outskirts of Jammu. He had allegedly fled from the madrasa where his parents, who have moved to India from Myanmar, had left him, The Indian Express reported.
The boy, who has a history of running away, had drifted to a nullah close to the madrasa, when someone from the other side took a photograph and sent it to local Muslim leaders. A social worker and the head maulvi of the madrasa Abdul Gafoor later took the boy to the police in Bhatindi.
While admitting that it was an "inhuman" act, Gafoor said the boy's mother had taken recourse to such an extreme step after he ran away from a school as well as the madrasa to which she had brought him back. When the ulemas refused to take him back, she tied him to a chain and left the keys with them.
The boy's father, who had come to India through Bangladesh four years ago, is yet to get refugee status. He and his wife have two more children, who are settled in Narwal in Jammu. They had taken their son to the madrasa, where 160 children of Myanmarese refugees are given boarding and lodging, funded by local Muslims and mosques.
Acting on complaints from the locals and based on the photograph circulated on WhatsApp, the police have booked the couple.
Also on HuffPost:
