Lost on the way to hosp, Muslim boy, 10, enters Dasna temple, confined; cops quiz him before letting him go

Ghaziabad: A 10-year old Muslim boy was confined for a couple of hours inside the Dasna Devi temple in Ghaziabad after he mistakenly entered the temple on Sunday evening while trying to meet his pregnant sister-in-law admitted to a nearby government hospital.

He was later handed over to police who interrogated him to confirm his claims. On questioning, the boy, a resident of the Usman colony in the Dasna area, told cops that he only knew that the local Combined Health Center (CHC) was located in the vicinity, and had walked inside the temple as he saw many people entering.

"The boy told police that on Sunday evening he walked into the temple as his relative told over the phone that the hospital is in the vicinity of the Dasna temple and when he saw people entering into a gate, he followed the crowd. However, when he reached inside the temple, the temple management held him and informed police," said Akash Patel, assistant superintendent of police, Ghaziabad.

Significantly, after the boy was confined in the temple premises by force and against his will, the chief priest and right-wing extremist Yati Narsinghanand had made a video accusing the child of carrying out a "recce" for an alleged plot to kill him. He was seen holding the visibly nervous boy by his shoulder while he recorded the video.

"He is a part of some anti-social elements groups, who are trying to kill me. Police have failed to protect me and so far police also failed to make any breakthrough into the incident of attack on a priest inside the temple on August 10," Narsinghanand said.

The priest has had multiple run-ins with the police - especially with respect to cases related to hate speech and inciting communal tensions. Moreover, it was at his temple in Dasna that a 14-year-old Muslim boy was beaten up for drinking water from inside the premises. That time too, the priest alleged a plot to kill him was being carried out.

Police said that the boy was taken to the hospital to confirm if he was telling the truth and found that the information provided by the boy was correct. Police also checked him and after they could not find anything suspicious with him, they let him go.

"The temple management informed police around 9:30 pm that a suspicious minor boy entered into the temple with some bad intention. We questioned the boy for over an hour to confirm his claims. Only after realising that he was telling the truth and had entered the temple mistakenly, we handed the boy to his parents at Masuri police station," added Patel.