india

Updated: Sep 11, 2018 23:58 IST

The Hyderabad police on Monday lodged a case against a woman and her partner who allegedly branded her three-year-old daughter and broke her hand in a bid to get rid of the girl.

According to the police, 25-year old Saritha, who deserted her husband, was living with her partner Venkat Reddy and her daughter Renuka for the last couple of years. Reddy, however, was not willing to keep the girl, born from her ex-husband, in the house and was bringing pressure on her to get rid of her.

“For the last few days, the couple had allegedly been torturing the girl. They broke her left hand recently and on Monday, Reddy branded her with a red-hot spoon ... ,” Andhra Pradesh child rights association president P Achyuta Rao told HT.

He said some locals, who watched the incident, alerted former Malakpet MLA D Sudhir Reddy, who informed the child rights association. “We rushed to the spot and immediately rescued the girl. We brought it to the notice of the Deputy Commissioner of Police (East), who in turn directed the Malakpet police to book the case against the couple,” Rao said.

Renuka told the child rights association activists that the man burnt her with a hot spoon while she was eating. “Daddy beat me up first and then pressed the hot spoon...,” the girl told Rao.

The Malakpet police shifted the girl to the child care centre and booked a case against the parents under Sections 326 and 354 of Indian Penal Code and also under Section 79 of the Juvenile Justice Act.