Allegation: Child beaten up for ‘trying to steal fruit’

GUJRANWALA:

An eight-year-old was beaten up by a vendor at a Ramazan bazaar in Sillanwali on Monday for allegedly trying to steal fruit.

Safdar Iqbal, the boy’s father, said he and his son, Karim, were buying some vegetables when Karim went missing. He said he looked for him every where. A few minutes later, he said, he saw some people gathered near the entrance.

“When I went there, I saw a vendor beating Karim up. He said he had tried to steal fruit from his stall.” Iqbal said on seeing him the vendor let Karim go. He said Karim’s back had turned red from the slaps and he was bleeding from the lips. He was given first aid on the spot. Iqbal said he did not report the police. He said the boy denied having stolen anything and said he was only asking the vendor if he had seen his father. “He kept asking me to buy him some mangoes, but I told him off saying they were too expensive,” Iqbal added.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 16^th, 2013.