In a shocking incident, a mother allegedly branded her children with a hot spoon, after they ate food that she cooked, and left nothing for her.

The police said that the family was poor, and the mother, identified as Sofia, was angry that there was no food left for her. 

The incident occurred at Tandur block in Rangareddy district on Friday.

Reports add that officials of Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) lodged a complaint with the police and shifted the children to a children's home. 

However, the police are reportedly yet to register a case against her, as she has to feed her third child, a one-year-old baby. The other two children were aged five and seven.

Pune Mirror reported that the accused had married a small-time contractor, Javid, after divorcing her first husband ten years ago.

However, Javid reportedly married another woman recently, which left Sofia to fend for herself and her children.

On Friday, she had prepared food for the whole day, before she left for her job as a daily-wage labourer.

When she returned and found all the food gone, she flew into a fit of rage and branded the children.

The police said that she was under a lot of stress.

Balala Hakkula Sangham, a child rights NGO, strongly condemned the incident, and said that the incident took place because of the family's poverty, and a lack of food safety in the country.

This is also not the first such incident reported from the state.

In April last year, a group of children at a state-run orphanage in Telangana were burnt with scalding hot spoons by staff.

Seven children, all younger than five, were reportedly "punished" in the evening for not eating their food, CCTV which later emerged, showed.