A broken shoulder, injury in the head and bruises on the body — these were the grievous injuries a one-year-old suffered as her mother’s partner brutally attacked her. The man, who has been identified as S Ratheesh, allegedly did not want the toddler living with the couple. The incident, which took place in Kerala’s Kannur district, came to light on June 13 when the baby’s grandmother took her away from the house and took her to a hospital for treatment. After the hospital authorities informed the police, the Kelakam police station in Kannur arrested the child’s mother, Remya, and her partner, Ratheesh.
According to the police, Remya and Ratheesh had been living in a rented house in Kelakam for the past three weeks. The one-year-old girl, who is Remya’s child from her previous marriage, had been living with the couple. As per police, Ratheesh brutally attacked the child by beating her with a wooden piece, inflicting injuries on her head and arms. The child, who is currently undergoing treatment at the Government Medical College Hospital in Kannur, had a broken shoulder and injury to her forehead. “Based on the preliminary investigation, Ratheesh was not happy that the child was living with them as she is from Remya’s previous marriage,” an official of Kelakam police told TNM.
The toddler’s maternal grandmother told the media that Ratheesh did not allow Remya to take care of the child. “He did not allow the child to sleep with them, give milk or allow her to pick up the child. The child was always kept in a corner of the room. Whenever we call them, he used to complain that the child urinated in the house,” the grandmother told Manorama News.
She also alleged that Ratheesh had previously threatened to kill the child. “Yesterday (Saturday), when I called and asked about the child, Remya said that Ratheesh attacked the baby and that she sustained injuries. As directed by Ratheesh, she asked me to come and take the child away. I took the baby and went to the hospital for treatment. It was the hospital officials who then filed a police complaint,” the grandmother said.
While police arrested Ratheesh for inflicting injuries to the toddler, Remya has been accused of hiding the cruelties that the child was subjected to. “The injuries on the child are a few days old. Yet, she neither took the child to a hospital nor alerted the officials. That is why we booked the mother in the case,” said the police.
Ratheesh has been booked under sections 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 342 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code and section 75 (Punishment for cruelty to child) of the Juvenile Justice Act. Remya has been charged under section 75 of the JJ Act.
In a similar incident in 2019, a Thodupuzha resident, Arun Anand, was arrested for brutally attacking his live-in partner’s seven-year-old child. The boy, who suffered grievous injuries, succumbed 10 days later.