Lucknow: A father-son duo was apprehended in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh, for publicly humiliating an Other Backward Class (OBC) man, shaving his head and parading him through the village over suspicion of stealing two mobile phones.
The incident occurred in Wahad Gram Pathakpur village on August 1 and came to light only recently after a video went viral, leading to the arrests on August 9.
The video shows Sonu surrounded by villagers as a barber shaves his head and mustache, his hands and legs bound with a rope.
According to the police, 50-year-old Raju and his 27-year-old son, Raj, are from an upper-caste community and harassed Sonu (30), who belongs to the OBC community.
The local police registered an FIR at around 8:30 pm on August 9 after the video emerged on social media. Sonu’s father subsequently lodged a complaint at Asivan police station.
The accused were booked under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Sections 3(5) (common intention), 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 356 (2) (defamation) and 351(3) (criminal intimidation).
The authorities are also on the lookout for another accused who reportedly shaved Sonu’s head.
The Unnao Police, in a statement, said the issue stemmed from the disappearance of two phones from accused Raju’s house on the night of July 30. They suspected Sonu as he had visited their house the same day. The accused went to Sonu’s home, where one of the phones was recovered.
Sub-Inspector Pradeep Kumar Singh told Maktoob Media that Raj and Raju traced Sonu to Lucknow and brought him back to their village on August 1.
“During our investigation, the father-son duo confessed that they later found their phone in an old general store, which is said to have been closed for many years, after villagers informed them that Sonu had entered the shop,” said SI Singh.
The officer added that they learnt that the accused shaved Sonu’s head and paraded him through the village. “If he was involved in the theft, they should have handed him over to the police,” Singh said.
Following their arrest, both the father and son confessed that they took the help of a village barber to shave Sonu’s head. “We are looking for the barber involved. He is absconding,” the officer said.
Separately, an investigation is ongoing into the phone theft.
