A 10-year-old boy was seriously injured here Tuesday after he was allegedly tied to a horse by its owner and dragged for nearly two km as punishment.

Itwari, the victim, told police that he had caught the horse grazing in the fields of his landlord and pulled the animal out.

This upset the Gujjar owner of the horse and he allegedly tied the boy to the horse and let the animal drag him for nearly two km.

"He has been punished for doing his duty of guarding the fields," the boy's mother said.

The police Tuesday registered a case and was investigating the matter.

The horse owner told police that the boy's leg got entangled with the rope tied to the horse and was dragged for some distance.

In a similar incident, a petty thief in Bhagalpur, Bihar, was tied to a police motorcycle and dragged for some distance as punishment for chain snatching last week.