A shocking video is doing rounds on social media showing Telangana Assembly Deputy Speaker Padma Rao Goud stuffing money into a child’s mouth who was playing drums during the Bonalu celebrations in Secunderabad.
The video shows a young boy playing a percussion instrument amidst cheers from the crowd as Goud watches. Goud then walks forward and stuffs a wad of currency notes into the boy’s mouth as “a gesture of appreciation”, even as the minor continues playing the instrument. The cheers from the crowd only grow louder. The boy then continues playing, with the cash stuffed in his mouth.
After the video went viral, several child rights activist condemned the act terming it “insensitive”. Children rights activist Revathi Devi, former member of the State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR), has criticised Goud saying the act may have been one of appreciation, but the manner in which the currency was stuffed into the mouth of the boy clearly violates his personal space and child rights.
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However, Padma Rao Goud defended it as “nothing wrong.” As quoted by TNM, “It is a common practice in Telangana, during functions and events they take a wad of notes and put it in the mouth of a performing artist. I was impressed with the boy’s performance and so I did that. It is not such a big thing.”
