A young actor in Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh, was booked on Thursday (29th January) under the BNS and the SC/ST Act after an arrow shot by him hit the eye of his co-actor during a Ramleela performance in November last year. The incident happened on November 13, 2025, at around 12:20 am during a Ramleela performance in Khaira village under the Shahganj police station area of Sonbhadra district.
During the performance, an arrow shot by actor Naitik Pandey, who was playing Ram, hit the right eye of his Dalit co-actor, Sunil Kumar, who was playing Ravan. Sunil Kumar started bleeding profusely from his right eye and was immediately rushed to the hospital.
FIR filed three months after the incident
Notably, the complaint in the incident was filed by the family of Sunil Kumar about three months after the incident. In his complaint, Shivamlal Kumar, the brother of the victim, alleged that Naitik Pandey shot the arrow at his brother out of malice and jealousy. Based on the complaint, the FIR was lodged under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Sections 125 (Act endangering life or personal safety of others), 351 (criminal intimidation) and 352 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), and different sections of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Shivamlal Kumar named Naitik Pandey and Ramlila organiser, Ramsnehi Singh, as the accused and co-accused in the FIR.
Sunil Kumar, who is married and has a three-month-old child, lost vision in his injured eye and has been receiving medical treatment at a hospital in Varanasi. His brother Shivamlal accused Naitik Pandey and Ramsnehi Singh of conspiring to injure him. Shivamlal alleged that when he approached the accused on 14th November to ask for the medical expenses of Sunil Kumar, they used casteist slurs against him and threatened to kill him.
“I have been associated with Ramlila for many years and have been performing in it regularly. For the past eight years, I have been portraying the character of Ravan. In recent years, the actor who used to play the role of Lord Ram stopped participating, and this year the role was assigned to 22-year-old Naitik Pandey,” said Sunil Kumar, narrating the incident. “Last year, the Ramlila was staged for 10 consecutive days, and on the final day, as part of the enactment, Ram had to shoot a wooden arrow at Ravan,” he added.
“It was clearly instructed that the arrow should be aimed only at the crown placed on Ravan’s head. However, Naitik did not use the arrow provided by the Ramlila organising committee. Instead, he brought a special type of arrow that was pointed and made of hardwood. When the scene was enacted, Naitik was supposed to shoot only a single arrow, but he shot several arrows from a distance of about five feet. One of those arrows struck my right eye,” he alleged.
Sunil Kumar, who used to work on a contractual basis with the municipal corporation, said that two surgeries have been performed on his injured eye nd yet his vision could not be restored. He added that a large part of his savings has been exhausted on the medical treatment, and he also lost his job due to the injury. “Due to the incident, I lost my job and am now completely dependent on my three brothers for financial support and for taking care of my family,” Sunil Kumar said.
Explaining the delay in filing the complaint with the police, Sunil Kumar said that he had approached the police soon after the incident but was not able to follow up due to his medical treatment. “Recently, my brother pursued the matter again with the police, after which the case was finally registered,” he said.
