LUCKNOW, Dec 29: Seven Dalit children, all below 10 years of age, were forced to dip their hands in boiling mustard oil in Nagpur Tiloi village in Pratapgarh. Their fault: they happened to be playing near the spot where a neighbour lost his watch.The owner of the lost watch, Waheed and his wife, Mehrunnisa, have been arrested while the police is looking for their son Sahim.They were held after the mother of seven-year-old Jayaram lodged a first information report (FIR) on December 27 at Lalganj police station. Waheed found his wrist watch - which he had kept aside when he was taking his bath in the open - and suspected the children who were playing nearby. The children pleaded innocence but Waheed allegedly took them to his house forcibly, asked them to line up and dip their hands in boiling mustard oil. The children were released later.``It's a minor incident. The media is blowing it out of proportion,'' says Anju Gupta, Superintendent of Police, Pratapgarh.Residents of the Dalit-dominatedNagapur Tiloi assembled soon and stormed into the Waheeds' house. They were held captive and later handed over to the police after the FIR was lodged.
