US: Boy's joke about bomb leads him to prison

New York, Dec 18: A 12-year-old boy was kept behind the bars for 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.

The boy was kept behind the bars for three days, before being released on Monday, Haer wrote in the post shared by thousands of people.

Sarai's parents were worried about him last Friday as he did not return back from school. They started calling police departments in the area only to find out he was sent to a juvenile facility, she said.

According to the media reports, police said they went to Nichols Junior High School in Dallas, Texas, after a student told a teacher that Sarai was planning to blow up the school.

Sarai's family, however, said it 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," the post read.

"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," said the post.

"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 is not able to get out much, due to a heart condition he was born with," Haer wrote.

He can not do a lot of extra curricular activities. But his love from family and friends has always been enough to keep his heart filled. They would describe him 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 authorities mistook for a bomb.

IANS