india

Updated: May 26, 2019 07:20 IST

A four-year-old boy who asked for an extra egg while having breakfast at a state-funded child development centre was allegedly stripped and burnt with steaming khichdi by a woman staffer in Raghunathgunj area of Bengal’s Murshidabad district on Friday.

The inspector in charge of Raghunathganj police station, Chinmoy Bhattacharya, said a written complaint was lodged against the woman, Sehari Bawa, on Saturday. She is absconding. The child has been admitted to Jangipur hospital with severe burns in his legs and hips.

“I have spoken to the district magistrate and sought a report from the administration on the inhuman incident,” said Ananya Chatterjee Chakraborty, chairperson of the West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights (WBCPCR).

Located in Khidirpur village, the centre is part of the Integrated Child Development Scheme under which children up to six years are provided with supplementary nutrition, immunization and pre-school and non-formal education. To generate jobs, the administration trains local women to run these centres. The boy, whose family lives in Kanupur village, was sent to the ICDS centre around 8 am on Friday.

Minu Bibi, his mother, said, “My son came home crying a little after 9 am... I rushed to the ICDS centre to find out what happened. Some children told me Sehari Bewa stripped my son and poured steaming khichdi on his lower back for daring to ask for an extra egg.”

Lying in the hospital bed, the boy said, “I didn’t do any mischief. But Didimoni (teacher) beat me and some other boys... I don’t know why she poured khichdi on me.”

Block development officer (BDO) of Raghunathganj-1 block, Masadur Rahaman, said, “I went to the hospital to see the child. We have initiated a probe.”