The police in Karnataka’s Kolar district have arrested the parents of a three-year-old boy on charges of torturing him to death.
Three-year-old Pritvi was rushed to the Kolar District Hospital in the wee hours of Tuesday with severe injuries and cigarette burn marks on his body. Pritvi, who was lodged in the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital, succumbed to his injuries later in the day.
The boy’s grandfather BM Nanjundaiah filed a complaint with the Malur Police Station alleging that he witnessed Pritvi’s mother Renuka snatch the cigarette from his (Nanjundaiah’s) son Harish and burn the boy with it until he passed out.
According to Nanjundaiah’s complaint, his grandson was prone to throwing tantrums and was a mischievous child. “My son Harish fell in love with Renuka and they got married four years ago. They live in the apartment above mine and had a son Pritvi. From time to time, my son Harish would tell me that he was fed up of dealing with Pritvi’s tantrums. In those times, I would tell him to consult a doctor and may be figure out if there was a problem that we didn’t know about,” Nanjundaiah’s complaint states.
Nanjundaiah stated that neither Harish nor Renuka consulted a doctor. He also stated that on Monday, February 25, Renuka and Harish had taken Pritvi to a faith healer in Malur.
“Pritvi once again began shaking his head and crying and screaming. It looked like he wanted to convey something but we could not understand. Later, Harish and Renuka took him to a healer, who said some prayers for him. This was at around 7 pm on Monday,” Nanjundaiah’s complaint adds.
Renuka, Harish and Pritvi came home and at around 11 pm, Pritvi allegedly began shaking his head and crying loudly. Renuka was allegedly beating Pritvi and demanding that he stay quiet. When Nanjundaiah heard the noise, he went upstairs to find out why his grandson was crying.
“When I went there, I saw Renuka had snatched the cigarette from Harish and was burning my grandson’s body all over using it. By the time I managed to stop her, Pritvi had become unconscious,” Nanjundaiah’s complaint states.
At around 12.15 am on Tuesday, Pritvi was admitted to the hospital. The Malur Police say that the little boy had injuries on his head and genitals, with cigarette burns on several parts of his body. Pritvi did not respond to the treatment and died.
The Malur Police have arrested Renuka and Harish and booked them under section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC.