Armaan Singh Sarai is a student at Nichols Junior High School in Arlington, Texas. Even though he is a good kid, a great student who never gets in trouble for anything, and even though he has a heart condition, Sarai was arrested and jailed for three days all because his school and the local police believed a bully’s racist accusation that he had a bomb in his backpack.

The school principal Julie Harcrow called police, without verifying any of the racist claims. The police then searched Armaan’s backpack and found that there was no bomb. But the police, like the school bully and principal, were also racist. Because Armaan was Indian and “looked Muslim” – even though he is a member of the Sikh religion – Armaan was locked up for three days at a juvenile detention facility.

Neither the police department nor the school officials ever informed Armaan’s parents about this incident or where he was being held by law enforcement.

On December 15 at 3:18pm, Armaan’s relative Ginee Haer wrote the following tragic account of her cousin’s ordeal with the school and police.

Describing the image above, Ginee writes:

This goofball on the left in this picture is my 12 year old cousin, Armaan Singh Sarai. He 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. 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. 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 isn’t able to get out much, due to a heart condition he was born with. The heart condition has led him to having three open heart surgeries, and he isn’t able to do a lot of extra curricular activities. But his love from his family and friends has always been enough to keep his heart filled. His family and friends would describe to be really funny, nice, and a caring human being.

On Friday, December 11th, 2015, my cousin attended school, like any other normal 12 year old child. A bully in class thought it would be funny to accuse him of having a bomb, and so the principal, without any questioning, interrogation, or notification to his parents, called the police. Worried & frightened at home, his family was concerned as to why he had not reached home right after school. They started calling every police department in the area, only to find out he was sent to a Juvenile facility. They kept him held behind bars for three consecutive days, before finally releasing him on Monday, December 15th.

It hurts my heart and boils my blood that there are people stupid enough out there not only accusing us, but our innocent children of being terrorists! It sickens me even more that there are people even more stupid out there, taking their word for it. My cousin is a minor and was arrested without any evidence or guardian present! This should show you how fucked up the system is! There are good people out there, but the majority of the system is corrupt! All these bastards see is race & the color of your skin! He’s more than what meets the eye people! I’m more, you’re more, we’re all more! The color of your skin does not define who you are! Please help share this post to open people’s eyes to the fuckery that goes on in our system #‎JusticeForArmaan‬ ‪#‎SikhLivesMatter‬ ‪#‎HumanityMatters‬

The police, for their part, are claiming that the bully was right, and that Armaan had “made a threat”. But in an email to Principal Harcrow, US Uncut comments that Armaan’s older brother, Aksh Singh, noted that even if this had been true, the bully had accused others of making the threat, but Armaan – the only brown one the bully accused – was apprehended and arrested.

“My little brother Armaan Singh, 12 years of age, a loved kid by many was taken from school to Kimbo Juvenile center because he AND other students were [allegedly] joking about bomb threats,” Singh said in an email. “I know we live in a time where such an accusation is serious, but this is outrageous and I demand a justified reason for why a 12-year-old INDIAN boy was taken into police custody and sent to a jail.”

If you believe the police have violated the rights of this child, and that they have done so based upon spurious, racially-driven accusations, then call the school at (682) 867-2600, then call the police department at (817) 459-5700 and let them know how you feel about this. Then help us SPREAD THE WORD!

Copyright © 2015 — Counter Current News.