A couple has been arrested in the Rajsamand district of Rajasthan for torturing a seven-year-old child by beating her and branding her with cigarette butts and even putting chilli powder on her private parts. The couple were arrested after a neighbour made a video of the child being thrashed and it went viral on social media.
The girl was living with her cousin brother and his wife in Thanota village in Rajsamand district, 350 km south of Jaipur. Police said the couple used to make the girl do all the household chores and they did not give her adequate food. They also punished her severely for small mistakes by hanging her upside down and beating her and branding her with cigarettes.
Denying reports that the police delayed registering an FIR, Additional Superintendent of Police Rajesh Gupta said that villagers and the secretary of the gram panchayat came with the child on January 29 and a case was filed under sections 323, 344, 34 of the IPC and section 75 of the JJ Act.
He said the accused couple was arrested on the same evening and after they confessed to the crime, they were sent to jail.
The child’s father, Devi Singh, works as a cook in a small hotel in Ganganagar district. He said he was not aware of the torture being meted out to his daughter. Devi Singh in December 2020, he had gone to Pailadol village for a family function. There his nephew, Kishan Singh, had requested Devi Singh to leave his daughter with him. Kishan Singh has a three-year-old son and he wanted a companion for the child and asked Devi Singh if his daughter would live with them, to which Devi Singh agreed.
After the shocking news of the torture became public, the human rights commission and child rights commission too have taken cognizance.
On Sunday, the state child rights commission and the state human rights commission sought reports into the incident from the district administration.
The human rights commission has sought a report within 15 days on whether there was a delay in registering an FIR. Commission member Mahesh Chandra Sharma has asked the police to complete the investigation in three days.
The state child rights commission member Dr Shailendra Pandya reached the village and spoke to the child and recorded her statement. The child has been sent to a child care facility in Rajsamand and will meet her father on his arrival on Tuesday.
