12-Year-Old Sikh Boy Jailed In United States For Playing A ‘Bomb Prank’ with his friend
A 12-year-old Sikh boy who is the latest victim of racism gets arrested after classmate accuses him of carrying a bomb
Armaan Singh Sarai, a 12-year-old Sikh boy was arrested and jailed in Texas for three days as a result of a prank in which a classmate accused the boy of possessing a bomb.
According to the Dallas News, Armaan ended up in a juvenile detention center on December 11 on charges of making “terroristic” threats after a classmate reported him for threatening to blow up Nichols Junior High School in Arlington.
The school principal, reportedly, without any “questioning, interrogation, or notification to his parents”, called the police, who searched Armaan’s backpack and determined there was no bomb. Despite that fact, Armaan was detained for three days at a juvenile detention facility.
While police were aware the report was part of a joke between the school children, they singled out Armaan to put behind bars for three days. Even his parents were not informed about all that happened and where he was being held. He is now under house arrest with an ankle monitor until a new court date is scheduled.
“People have got to learn they cannot make these types of threats, which cause alarm, which cause evacuations,” police spokesman Lt. Christopher Cook told Dallas News. “Just because you say it’s a joke, it doesn’t get you out of trouble.”
Describing the ordeal in a Facebook post, Armaan’s cousin, Ginee Haer, which had already gone viral earlier this week said,
“On Friday, December 11th, 2015, my cousin attended school, like any other normal 12 year old child. A bully in class thought it would be funny to accuse him of having a bomb, and so the principal, without any questioning, interrogation, or notification to his parents, called the police. 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. They kept him held behind bars for three consecutive days, before finally releasing him on Monday, December 15th.”
Haer also expressed frustration at the way her cousin was treated, given his medical history. Even though Armaan is just 12 years old, he’s endured three open heart surgeries due to an undisclosed heart condition Haer said he was born with.
“It hurts my heart and boils my blood that there are people stupid enough out there not only accusing us, but our innocent children of being terrorists!” the post reads.
“My cousin is a minor and was arrested without any evidence or guardian present! This should show you how f***** up the system is!” Haer wrote. “There are good people out there, but the majority of the system is corrupt! All these b****** see is race & the color of your skin!”
For Armaan’s older brother, Aksh Singh, the case is an injustice. In an email to Principal Harcrow, he pointed out that Armaan and other students had been joking about bomb threats, yet Armaan was the only one arrested.
“My little brother Armaan Singh, 12 years of age, a loved kid by many was taken from school to Kimbo Juvenile center because he AND other students were joking about bomb threats,” Singh wrote in a Facebook post. “I know we live in a time where such an accusation is serious, but this is outrageous and I demand a justified reason for why a 12-year-old INDIAN boy was taken into police custody and sent to a jail.”
In a similar incident in September, Mohamed Ahmed, 14-year-old Muslim boy in the US was arrested, suspended from school for bringing a homemade clock to school that his teachers mistook for a bomb.
