12-Year-Old Sikh Boy Sent to Jail For Joking About a Bomb

12-year-old Armaan Singh Sarai with his cousin Ginee Haer. (Photo Courtesy: Ginee Haer’s Facebook page)

A 12-year-old Sikh 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 and has a three-day suspension from school, Haer wrote in the post shared by thousands of people.

Sarai’s parents were worried about him last Friday as he did not return 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 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...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.

Ginee Haer’s Facebook post

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.

An officer from the Arlington Police Department in United States’ Texas, however, told Hindustan Times the boy was sent to the juvenile centre after admitting he had joked about the threat.

Saying It’s a Joke, Doesn’t Get You Out of Trouble: Cops

Police realised the bomb threat was a hoax, but they took him into custody because he confessed to making up the threat, they say.

People have got to learn they cannot make these types of threats, which cause alarm, which cause evacuations. Just because you say it’s a joke, it doesn’t get you out of trouble.

Lt. Christopher Cook, Police Spokesman

The school district has released little information, citing privacy concerns, and a Tarrant County Juvenile Services spokeswoman declined to provide details about Armaan’s detention.