IDUKKI: A nine-year -old boy from Kumaramangalam near Perumbillichira in Thodupuzha on Thursday was admitted to hospital with burn injuries caused by his mother incensed at the child for purportedly taking money to buy a snack. The victim, a Class III student and elder son of Biju and Remya of Pallithazhe house, was later turned over to the Child Welfare Committee(CWC) here with the help of the district child protection council authorities.
He has since been shifted to a rescue centre at Mylakomb on Thursday evening. Remya was arrested for inflicting injury on the child under Section 75 (punishment for cruelty to child meted out by the custodian) of the Juvenile Justice Act and Section 324 of the IPC (voluntarily causing hurt). However, Remya told police she had punished her son for stealing money. According to Thodupuzha SI Jobin Antony, the child had burn marks on his face, shoulder, stomach and fingers.
The injured boy was tied up using a shawl while being tortured, the officers said. The boy had been scalded on Wednesday morning when Remya poked him with smouldering firewood after quizzing him on obtaining the bakery snack. The gruesome incident came to light after the boy confided in a neighbour, who informed an Anganwadi nearby. Following this, Anganwadi worker K Khadeeja reported the matter to the district child prot e c t i o n o f f i c e i n Thodupuzha.
“We arrived at the house as soon as the matter was reported to us and rushed the boy to hospital with the help of personnel from Thodupuzha police station,” said V A Shamnad, district child protection officer.