Hyderabad: In yet another case of abuse by a stepmother, a five-year-old girl was admitted to hospital with burns on the cheek and other injuries.
The incident occurred in Gattu of Gadwal division Mahbubnagar and was brought to light by the Anganwadi in-charge.
The girl, Jayalakshmmi, and her 11-year-old brother Veeresh had been suffering at the hands of the stepmother since a year, according to the police.
The boy had injuries on his arms and elbow and the girl had a deep wound on her cheek, hands and legs. The girl had small wounds on her head too.
On Thursday, the girl who was at the Anganwadi centre, refused to go back home. The in-charge reported the matter to the police.
Before this, after suffering torture several times at the hands of the stepmother and not being allowed to go to school, Veeresh had approached local authorities and they had placed him in a government hostel.
"The father of the children, Mallesh married Sujatha nearly two years ago after his first wife died. Sujatha was fine with the kids till she became pregnant according to our sources. However, later on she started torturing them, branding and beating them up brutally," said SI Rambabu who had taken the girl to hospital.
Sujatha hails from a village near the Karnataka border. The accused has been taken into remand, he said.
An inquiry report has been sought by the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights from the collector and superintendent of police, Mahbubnagar about the case.
