New York, Dec 18 (IANS): A 12-year-old Sikh boy was kept behind the bars for three days for allegedly joking to a classmate that he has a bomb in his backpack, the boy's cousin wrote in a Facebook post this week.
"A bully in class thought it would be funny to accuse him (Armaan Singh Sarai) of having a bomb, and so the principal, without any questioning, interrogation, or notification to his parents, called the police," Sarai's cousin Ginee Haer wrote in the post.
"They kept him behind bars for three consecutive days, before finally releasing him on Monday, December 15th," Haer wrote in the Faecbook post that has been shared by thousands of people.
"Worried & frightened at home, his family was concerned as to why he had not reached home right after school. They started calling every police department in the area, only to find out he was sent to a Juvenile facility," she added.
According to media reports, police said they indeed went to Nichols Junior High School in Dallas, Texas, after a student told a teacher that Sarai told him he was planning to blow up the school.
Sarai's family, however, said he was framed.
"Armaan was born and raised in Texas by a loving #Sikh family. In his spare time, he loves spending time with his family, watching tv, and playing video games. In his family, are his mom, dad, two sisters and a brother who love him more than life, after all he's the baby in the family," the post read.
"His family moved to Dallas, Texas about three to four months ago, and being the new kid wasn't that easy for him. It made it especially hard since he isn't able to get out much, due to a heart condition he was born with," Haer wrote.
"The heart condition has led him to having three open heart surgeries, and he isn't able to do a lot of extra curricular activities. But his love from his family and friends has always been enough to keep his heart filled. His family and friends would describe to be really funny, nice, and a caring human being," she informed.
The incident came after a Texas boy Ahmed Mohamed was recently taken away in handcuffs for bringing to his Dallas school a homemade clock that the school