Hyderabad: In a shocking case of alleged child abuse in Suryapet district, a couple has been arrested for allegedly subjecting their two young sons to severe physical and mental torture, including branding them with heated objects and inflicting cigarette burns. Officials who rescued the children found multiple burn injuries on their bodies, while the younger child had also suffered a fracture on his left wrist.Huzurnagar police registered a case against the couple under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act and relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita after women and child welfare department officials found signs of prolonged abuse on the children.The case came to light when Huzurnagar police received a complaint from Somu Nirmala, supervisor of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), Huzurnagar sector. The complaint followed alerts from locals about two children allegedly being subjected to cruelty by their parents in Huzurnagar town.Acting on the information, the ICDS supervisor, along with staff from the district child protection unit and Childline, rushed to the locality on Thursday morning to verify the allegations.“We enquired with the neighbours and came to know that the victims area five-year-old boy and his two-year-old stepbrother. They were harassed by parents. Since the past few days, the two boys were subjected to branding with heated ladles and cigarette burns. Their bodies bore burns, scratch marks. The boys were also subjected to mental harassment,” Nirmala alleged.During the preliminary investigation, police found that the accused, a 43-year-old truck driver who is HIV-positive, had separated from his first wife about a decade ago and married a 25-year-old divorcee four years ago. The woman has a five-year-old son from her first marriage and later gave birth to a son after marrying the truck driver.Investigators said the children had allegedly been facing abuse for some time. During questioning, the couple reportedly admitted they viewed the children as a hindrance to their lifestyle.“During the interrogation, the couple said that they see the children as an obstruction to their freedom and subjected them to cruelty due to frustration,” Huzurnagar sub-inspector Ch Suresh said.Police booked the couple under sections 118(1) (voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means) read with 3(5) (common intention) of the BNS, along with section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act.“The boys were shifted to a children’s home in Suryapet after medical treatment. The couple will be produced before the court for remand,” the SI said.
