Reel turned real when a 14-year-old boy playing Goddess Kali slashed the neck of an 11-year-old, during the dramatic enactment of Bhagwat Katha in a village in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur, the police said.
The incident took place in Bambhiyapur village on Wednesday.
The Bhagwat Katha, organised by the family of one Subhash Saini at their house, had been going on for the past several days.
On Wednesday evening, as part of the event, children were taking out a tableau depicting and enacting various religious characters.
The teen playing Goddess Kali was mock-slaying a ‘demon’, played by the 11-year-old, when his knife struck the neck of the younger boy and injured him fatally.
Locals said the elder boy had been told to use a blunt trident for the act, but he couldn’t find one and brought a knife instead.
The family that had organised the event informed the police and the injured child was rushed to the community health centre, where he died during treatment.
The police have detained the 14-year-old for questioning and sent the body for post-mortem examination.
On a complaint lodged by Bablu Kashyap, the father of the deceased boy, an FIR was registered against the accused teen under Section 304 of IPC for causing death by rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide.
Assistant Commissioner of Police, Ajay Kumar Trivedi, said on Friday that the organiser of the event had also been taken into custody.
