In a horrific incident reported from Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh, a man suffering from mental illness was allegedly tied to a motorcycle and dragged on the road for plucking a flower from a plant inside a temple.
According to a Times of India report, the victim, Gopi Kushwaha, had plucked a flower from inside the temple premises on Sunday morning.
"My mentally-challenged son was treated like a stray animal," Anaar Singh, Kushwaha's father told TOI. "In front of a crowd, a local man tied Gopi to his motorcycle and dragged him on bitumen road. He kept pleading for mercy but no one came to his rescue until he fell unconscious."
According to Singh, he found his son in torn undergarments and bruises all over his body.
However, denying knowledge of any such brutality, Virendar Baghel, station officer of Sirsaganj told TOI, "Gopi had suffered the injury in a road accident which had happened on some other day."
He also said that Kushwaha had been caught breaking the lock of the temple but was never tied to a motorcycle and dragged on the road. "Since there is no written complaint from the victim, we cannot take any action," Baghel added.
No arrests have been made so far.
This is not the first incident of its kind. Last week, a mentally ill woman in Jharkhand was lynched on suspicion of being a child-lifter.
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