Mothers can be hard on children but for the most part, they’re rightfully portrayed as benevolent paragons. However, in rare cases, the warm maternal instinct takes a backseat to gross neglect or even abuse.

A terrible case of child abuse saw Mumtaz (name changed) record herself as she cruelly hit her three-year-old over and over. The toddler, however, wasn’t being chided. The video was an extortion attempt aimed at her ex-husband.

Shot on February 28, the 2-minute long clip shows the mother beating the boy as he pleads to her. The child appears to be bare naked as the steel spatula, strikes him multiple times.

Take a look at a snippet from the video she shot-

Woman beats her own son, shoots video to ask ex-husband for more money.

Read the full story here: https://t.co/Mv88rLuaUk pic.twitter.com/uRT6KmPWXP — Mumbai Mirror (@MumbaiMirror) March 5, 2019

“You want to go to your father? Who’s going to pay for the milk you spilt? He gives me only Rs. 6000 per month to take care of you. But I spend Rs.10,000 on you every month,” the mother says in the clip.

While Mumtaz and the boy’s father married 4 years ago, they soon got divorced, reported the Mumbai Mirror. The husband was to offer his ex-wife Rs 6000 each month as maintenance money. But, she reportedly abused the boy every time the payment was late or deemed insufficient.

As soon as her ex-husband saw the clip, he headed to the cops filing a complaint of assault against Mumtaz. The police proceeded to arrest her under the Juvenile Justice act that pertains to child abuse.

Child abuse can cast a shadow that lasts a lifetime and damages an innocent soul in irreparable ways. The video Virat Kohli shared in 2017 detailed a similar case of abuse. We hope that child abusers are brought to justice in a way that ensures no minors are ever subject to such brutality.