Priest Burns Girl's Hands for Theft

By Nalla Ram
Deccan Herald
May 17, 2012

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/cities/hyderabad/priest-burns-girl%E2%80%99s-hands-theft-227


A Sanskrit scholar burnt the hands of a seven-year-old girl on Tuesday for stealing Rs 2 from a temple's offering plate on Tuesday. The callous incident, which took place in a temple at Madhurawada in Visakhapatnam, came to light on Wednesday.

According to reports, a group of 17 priests and Sanskrit scholars from Basara of Adilabad district had arrived in the city on Tuesday to participate in a devotional programme. They were staying at the Siddeshwara Swamy temple in Madhurawada. The incident took place in the evening when seven-year-old A. Sridevi of Tailors Colony visited the temple for darshan. She was caught taking Rs 2 from a plate inside the temple to buy snacks.

One J. Buddi, 20, who works on the temple premises, informed the leader of the Sanskrit scholars, P. Aswan Kumar, 19, that Sridevi had been stealing money from the temple offerings for the past few weeks. Aswan Kumar decided to teach the girl a lesson and dragged Sridevi inside the temple and burnt both her hands with a hot metal rod. He also beat her and warned her not to come to the temple again.