3-year-old allegedly tortured to death; parents arrested

• Complaint by victim’s grandfather who witnessed the torture

Kolar: The parents of a three-year-old boy have been arrested by Malur police in Kolar district for allegedly torturing the kid to death.

On the wee hours of Tuesday, 3-year-olf Pritvi was rushed to the Kolar District Hospital with severe injuries and cigarette burn marks on his body. The kid was admitted into the hospital ICU where he succumbed to his injuries later in the day.

A complaint in this connection was lodged with Malur police by BM Nanjundaiah, the grandfather of child in which he claimed that he witnessed Pritvi’s mother Renuka snatch the cigarette from his (Nanjundaiah’s) son Harish and burn the boy with it until he passed out.

In his complaint, Nanjundaiah states that Pritvi was prone to throwing tantrums and was a mischievous child. “My son Harish fell in love with Renuka and they got married four years ago. They live in the apartment above mine and had a son Pritvi. From time to time, my son Harish would tell me that he was fed up of dealing with Pritvi’s tantrums. In those times, I would tell him to consult a doctor and may be figure out if there was a problem that we didn’t know about,” states the grandfather.

He further states that the parents failed to consult a doctor and on Monday Feb 25, they took the child to a faith healer in Malur instead. “Pritvi once again began shaking his head and crying and screaming. It looked like he wanted to convey something but we could not understand. Later, Harish and Renuka took him to a healer, who said some prayers for him. This was at around 7 pm on Monday,”

The couple returned with the child at 11 pm and Pritvi allegedly began shaking his head and crying loudly. In response, Renuka started to beat up the child demanding it to keep quite. Nanjundaiah heard the noise and went upstairs to enquire.

“When I went there, I saw Renuka had snatched the cigarette from Harish and was burning my grandson’s body all over using it. By the time I managed to stop her, Pritvi had become unconscious,” state Nanjundaiah in his complaint.

According to Malur police, the little boy had injuries on his head and genitals, with cigarette burns on several parts of his body. The kid failed to respond to the given treatment at the hospital and succumbed to his injuries.

The accused parents Renuka and Harish have been arrested under section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) by Malur police.