Tyrant or helpless parent? Father ties 7-year-old girl to bike and drags her to school for test

While the government and women’s activists across India are crying themselves hoarse to emphasise the need to educate girl children, in one corner of Uttar Pradesh, an incident around the same issue sparked equal amounts of shock and sympathy. A 40-year-old security guard from a village near Mathura, tied his seven-year-old daughter to his bike with nylon ropes and dragged her to school. The girl reportedly refused to write a math test at school, prompting the father to take such an extreme step. While he was on his way to school, some journalists who were returning from an adjoining village after an assignment clicked pictures of him. Word soon reached the police, who promptly arrested Bhagat Singh, who was released the next day on bail. [caption id=“attachment_2164309” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Image used for representational purposes only. AFP.[/caption] An Indian Express report, in a fairly sympathetic tone, reported why the father insisted the child attend school. A report says how the father of four earns a measly Rs 7,000 and supports the education of the children apart from running the family. “My daughter will not die if I take her to school. But she will surely die if she does not study,” he told The Times of India. He told The Indian Express : “All through that night in jail, I thought about what I had done and why I did it. If she failed, my monthly income of Rs 7000, with six mouths to feed, would not have allowed me to help her in any way… I only want her to study. I don’t want her to end up like me. I want all my children to do well and escape this life of poverty.” The children also attend a private school as opposed to government schools frequented by children from low-income families. Singh, who was charged with breach of peace by the police, added that his wife is ill and he spends nearly half his salary on his treatment. Social media was divided over how to react to the incident. With anger against a tyrant parent, or sympathy for a poor parent’s dreams to get his children educated.