Police should wipe any data they hold on four school pupils who ‘accidentally’ dropped a Quran, campaigners said today – as they criticised officers for categorising the bungled prank as a ‘hate incident’.
West Yorkshire Police became involved after a Year 10 pupil, who is 14 and autistic, brought the holy book into school as a forfeit for losing a Call of Duty videogame with friends.
It was later dropped on the floor, causing a minor tear on the cover and scuffing to its pages. The four pupils involved were suspended and the police called to Kettlethorpe High School in Wakefield.
Officers found there had been only ‘minor damage’ to the Quran and no crime had been committed. It was recorded as a ‘non-crime hate incident’, a designation used to record incidents that don’t meet the criminal threshold.
This decision was criticised today by the Free Speech Union, which warned that if the boys’ names were recorded in the incident reports they could show up years later on enhanced criminal records checks.