Chili powder in her genitals and brutal assault - that's how a six-year-old girl was 'punished' by her foster mother. The girl's 'crime' was bedwetting which her foster mother Sandhya was not willing to tolerate. So, the young one faced the mother's ire at their Bidhan Pally residence under Titagarh police station near Kolkata, police said.

The foster parents of the girl - father Shyamal Sen and mother Sandhya - were arrested by the police. The couple had allegedly adopted the girl without proper legal formalities. Shyamal has been granted bail; but Sandhya has been sent to 14-day judicial custody.

The girl has been admitted in the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital here in critical condition. According to doctors treating her, she is extremely traumatised: she is not talking and needs urgent counselling.

"When we came to know about the incident we took prompt action and arrested the couple. The district child welfare committee has also intervened into the matter and lodged an FIR on the basis of which we made the arrests," Barrackpore police commissioner Niraj Kumar Sigh told Mail Today on Friday.

Singh said that the police have appealed to the court to record the victim's statement. "We are looking into all the aspects. The investigation is on," he said.

According to the police, the girl had lost her father when she was just a toddler. After that her mother also left her. She was raised by her aunt Purnima Das but due to poverty she gave away the girl to Shyamal and Sandhya who adopted her without any necessary legal formality.

After the incident came to light on June 19 Purnima also registered a complaint with the police. "The district child welfare committee is on the job now as they are the competent agency to handle the matter," Singh said. Sources said once the girl recovers, she would be sent to any of the state-run homes for further treatment and education.

"Bedwetting is a very delicate issue. In most of the cases we have seen that parents or guardians indulge in certain wrongful practices. I think the mother also needs to undergo psychotherapy to see if she has any sadistic trait," said citybased psychoanalyst Anindita Roychowdhury.