UP: Locals tonsure youth's head for posting morphed images with girls

Locals tonsured a youth's head shaved, blackened his face and paraded him in the area over allegations of harassing girls and posting morphed pictures of himself with them on social media.

The incident took place in Saharakhurd village of Iglas zone on November 5. The youth has been identified as Waqeel, who requires crutches to walk. He was also beaten up by residents and later jailed by the police over the charges against him. A video of the occurrence surfaced recently, wherein Waqueel, is being paraded around the village.

Condemning the incident, Waqeel's family members approached the District Magistrate (DM) to plead for justice. The DM has forwarded the video to the police, directing an investigation to be conducted into the matter.

Speaking with the media, DM Chandrabhushan Singh said, "There was video, where a youth was being beaten up by a few men who also shaved his head. I have taken cognizance into the incident and have forwarded the video to the inspector of Iglas in order for him to investigate the matter. I have told the police to take necessary action if required."

Meanwhile, Ifrahim Hussain, a social worker who advocated Waqueel's innocence and held talks with the DM, said, "Some goons dragged him from his house, beat him up and paraded him throughout the village. They then took him to a canal and were going to kill him, thankfully some people intervened and saved his life. Instead of punishing the goons the police jailed him (Waqueel), whereas the goons are disrupting social harmony. Even today they issue threats of murder."

Hussain further stated that Waqueel's Facebook account was hacked by someone else, who uploaded the morphed imaged in order to make Waqueel look bad. He also said that despite knowing this, the police did not take action against the real culprits.