NEW DELHI, May 22 (Xinhua) -- Two boys aged 8 and 9 were stripped and paraded with garlands of slippers around their necks for allegedly stealing snacks from a sweet shop in India's western state of Maharashtra, police said Monday.
The incident took place on Saturday at Ulhasnagar town in Thane district, 22 km north of Mumbai city, the capital of Maharashtra.
Police have arrested the shop owner and his two sons in connection with the crime.
"The children went to the neighborhood shop and picked up a packet of 'chakli' (a snack) without the owner's permission and ate it," a police official said. "The act of the children angered the shop owner, who took law into his hands and committed the crime."
According to police, the shop owner and his two sons tonsured heads of the duo, stripped them naked and paraded them in the market with garlands of worn out slippers around their necks as punishment.
Following the incident, enraged parents of the children filed a complaint with the police against the ill treatment meted out to their minor sons.
