The shocking video has surfaced from a government facility in Etawah, Uttar Pradesh.
A child rolls on the floor, screaming in pain, another cowers in a corner, pressing against the murky walls of a dingy room -- the visuals from inside a government facility for differently abled children are searing. The shocking video, which surfaced in Uttar Pradesh over the week-end, had raised widespread fury.
Shot with a cellphone, the one-and-half-minute video shows a man mercilessly attack a group of children. Amid screams and wails, he runs berserk, raining blows. Soon a small boy collapses on the dirty floor, unable to get up.
The man, dressed in a red tee shirt and camouflage pants, rushes out and gets a stick, landing blows left and right. As most children make for the door, wailing in pain, he unleashes fury on the remaining few. Sharp cracks ring out as he chases a child around the bare room, whacking him with the stick.
Another man, later identified as the warden, is seen. He asks why the other man was beating the children, but makes no effort to stop the caretaker or shield the children. He gets no response.
No words emerge from the children, only piercing shrieks that slows down to gurgling sobs. An older boy faces the camera, trying to communicate in sign language.
The dirty walls and stained, filthy floor, littered with rags, a lone mattress askew in the middle, tell a story of their own.
The police - who got to know about the matter after the video surfaced - say it was shot on March 18. Six children, all minors, got the worst of the frenzied attack. Two of them were nearly beaten unconscious.
The video was shot at a state facility in Etawah, where a camp was organised for differently-abled children under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan's accelerated learning programme. Such camps are bridge courses organised by the government for children with hearing and visual impairments, aged between 6 and 14 years.
Suraj Singh, the caretaker, who is seen in the video beating the children, has been arrested.