Daijiworld Media Network – Beltangady (SP)

Beltangady, Apr 21: In a shocking incident, a woman was arrested here on Sunday April 20 for allegedly torturing her five-year-old daughter. The woman was remanded to judicial custody thereafter, after the police registered criminal complaints against both her and her husband, who is absconding.

Muhammed Shafi and his wife, Fauzia, have been accused of inflicting extreme torture to their daughter, Fahima. The parents have been charged with beating the child with a cudgel and inflicting bruises and wounds on her knees, hands, face, nose, ears, etc.

The couple lived along with the child in a rented residential accommodation owned by a local named Rubiya since about a month. Within a few days after the family shifted base here, Muhammed Shafi got admitted to a hospital, alleging assault by members of an organization. He also had complained to the local police about the assault, and a case had been registered.  He continued to be in the hospital, but as soon as he was booked for child abuse, he was found to have gone missing from there.

Shafi, who lived with Fauzia at Puttur before shifting residence here, happens to be the second husband of his wife. As Fahima is not his biological daughter, it is said that Shafi used to torture the girl. Fauzia not only remained a mute spectator to the ordeal of her daughter, but also indirectly supported Shafi’s horrendous ways, it is said.

Shafi had reportedly compelled the child to spend an entire night at a secluded hillock when in Puttur, after abandoning her there. After a complaint was lodged in this connection in the police station there, Shafi was released against execution of a bond of good conduct. It is said that he continued with his sadistic ways thereafter, and burnt the child with cigarette butts at sensitive spots.

Recently, president of SDPI, Akbar, and district level leader, Hyder Neersal, and members of this organization visited the home of Shafi, after being alerted about the ordeal of the child. The child explained to the visiting team about the torture she is made to suffer on a daily basis, showing off her wounds and bruises as proof. The members then admitted the girl to a hospital, and informed the police.

Thereafter, representatives of Karnataka State Human Rights Commission and child welfare department visited the girl, who is being treated in a private hospital in Puttur. The mother, who was remanded to a day’s judicial custody, would be produced in court today for taking a decision about extension of custody.