Mahadev Pramanik, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker thrashed a 10-year-old boy Mahadev Sharma over his refusal to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ on Monday afternoon in West Bengal’s Nadia.
According to The Telegraph report, the Class IV student Sharma was hit a by the saffron party activist Pramanik when the boy was passing by a tea stall owned by Pramanik at Phulia locality in Nadia.
The incident angered local residents, who also raised a blockade on NH12 demanding the accused Pramanik’s arrest.
Though the police assured the protesters that the accused would be arrested, sources said Pramanik had fled.
Reports also claim that the boy is the son of a carpenter who is a known Trinamul Congress supporter in the locality.
“He (the boy) was singled out because of his father’s leanings. This was evident because Pramanik summoned him and began verbally abusing the boy’s father over his Trinamul leanings,” The Telegraph quoted an eyewitness saying.
“On the day of the election, BJP workers had been trying to influence voters, which I protested against. So, it appears they took revenge by attacking my son,” Sharma’s father Shyamchand Sharma told reporters.
The Telegraph journalist also spoke to the boy who was still in an apparent trauma.
The boy said: “He (Pramanik) insisted I chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and was abusing my father. When I refused, he started to beat and slap me, and then kick me. Luckily, some locals rushed in to help.”
The boy now is under treatment in a Nadia.
 worker thrashed a 10-year-old boy Mahadev Sharma over his refusal to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ on Monday afternoon in West Bengal's Nadia.){kind=link}