A 7-year-old is battling for his life in an ICU at the Kolanchery Medical College. A brutal and dastardly assault in the wee hours of Thursday had left him with critical injuries including a fracture in the skull, ruptured lungs and head injury with internal bleeding.
Ths police arrested the main accused Arun Anand on Friday evening. The accused, who is the live-in partner of the boy’s mother, used to regularly assault the children with his walking stick, according to the police.
But what lead to the arrest in this case that has shocked Kerala is the statement given by the victim’s 4-year-old sibling. While the mother had maintained till her arrest that her son had got injured in an accident, it was the little boy who told counsellors at the Child Welfare Commission that ‘daddy’ and had assaulted his brother on Thursday.
“Daddy hit Pappi (he refers to his brother as Pappi) on his eyes, arms and his head. Daddy dragged him by his legs. It was I who wiped away his blood. Pappi fell on the floor and did not wake up. In the night Daddy and Mummy took the car and went somewhere with Pappi,” the younger one told CWC members and the police.
The younger one also revealed that the accused forcefully banged his brother’s head, took him by his legs, banged him on the floor and squeezed him between the shelf, according to Prof. Joseph Augustine, Chairman of the Thodupuzha Child Welfare Committee (CWC).
As his condition worsened, he was rushed to a private hospital in Thodupuzha at 3:55 am on Thursday, the police added. Later, he was shifted to the Kolanchery Medical College.
As on Saturday, the victim’s condition is still critical and he is on life support.
“We can say anything only after the next 48 hours. He is still very critical. Doctors said that the blood supply to his brain is almost completely cut off. He has had a fracture on his skull and bleeding in his brain,” Dr Subin Francis, Assistant Professor (Forensics) from the Kolanchery Medical College told TNM.
As per the victim’s mother’s statement, the 7-year-old was supposed to ensure that his brother urinated before going to bed. “On Thursday, the boy slept off without taking his brother to the bathroom. When the accused noticed that the younger one had wet the bed, he assaulted the elder boy,” police officers told TNM.
Although the mother tried to prevent the attack, the accused attacked her and the younger one. The 4-year-old boy suffered injuries on his chin and teeth, according to reports.
“We registered a case against Arun Anand under IPC including 303 (attempt to murder), and the Juvenile Justice Act. The accused has a criminal back ground and was previously accused in a murder case. We are collecting the details of other cases against the accused,” Thodupuzha DYSP KP Jose told TNM.
The woman had left her home with the accused after her husband passed away 10 months ago. The accused was a close relative of her late husband. The couple only reached Kumaramangalam in Thodupuzha where the assault took place, a month ago, police added. “The CWC take over the protection of the younger child and sent him with his grandmother, under condition to produce him before the CWC whenever asked to,” Prof Joseph Augustine added.