In a shocking incident, a five-year-old boy has been tortured brutally by his father and stepmother at Chenkara in Kerala’s Idukki district. The boy, Shafeeq, was admitted with serious injuries to a hospital in Kattappana in the district, where doctors said he was in critical condition.
The police have arrested the boy’s father Shereef and stepmother Aleesha and charged them with attempt to murder. Sources said they have admitted to the crime. The police said that Shereef and Aleesha had been brutally torturing Shafeeq for the past two years.
The boy was brought to the hospital in an unconscious condition with marks of injuries all over his body. Examinations proved that the boy had been critically injured in the head, face and leg. Apart from these, his body also showed marks of injuries inflicted with nails, police sources said.
Shereef had told the hospital authorities that the boy had suffered injuries in a fall but the doctors grew suspicious after examining the injuries and informed the police. Shereef and Aleesha admitted to the police that they had beaten up Shafeeq with an iron road two weeks back causing a fracture in one leg. They also told the police that they had kicked him in the chest.
It was revealed that the boy was taken to a hospital 12 hours after he fell unconscious when his head struck a cot after the parents pushed him while torturing him. The parents also told the police that they had not been giving food to him for several days and that the aim was to force him out of the house.
The Government has said that the best available medical care would be given to the boy and Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has asked the social Welfare Department to file a report on the matter immediately. Sources in the Government said that the State Cabinet would discuss the report at its weekly meeting on Wednesday.
An ice-cream vendor, Shereef had married Aleesha after his first wife deserted him four years back.
The boy was being looked after by relatives after his mother’s death some time back and Shereef had brought him to his house recently. Shafeeq is the second of the two children of Shereef.