12 Year Old Wears A Nappy!- News Story

A US woman and her boyfriend shaved the head of her 12-year-old daughter and forced the girl to wear a nappy and run up and down outside their home because she wasn't doing well at school, police said.

Police arrested the two on Tuesday on suspicion of malicious punishment of a child.

Lieutenant Mike Monsrud said they laughed as they were taken away and apparently didn't understand why police had intervened. They told police they were punishing the girl because she had bad grades and failed to do her homework.

A crowd of about 50 people had gathered to watch the girl, who was wearing only the nappy and a tank top and was begging to be let back inside her home near Minneapolis.

"When the officer found her, she was crying and hysterical," Lt Monsrud told the Saint Paul Pioneer Press.

The mother and boyfriend were in jail. The girl and three younger children were placed in foster care.