Minor branded with a hot iron rod for being naughty

Cuttack: A 9-year-old boy was branded with a hot iron rod by his uncle and aunt for ‘being naughty and adamant,’ the police said. The incident took place in the CDA area in Cuttack.

The accused allegedly had been torturing the kid for the last two months. However, the incident of the branding with a hot iron came to light after the kid narrated his ordeal before his maternal grandparents, while they visited their place during the Durga Puja vacation. Following this, grandparents Madan Mohan Rout and Baijayanti Rout complained to Markatnagar police station in Cuttack.

“At first the kid was reluctant to narrate the torture to me, saying they (uncle and aunt) would kill him. However, after I counseled him, he revealed that they used to brand him with hot iron rods, beat him with shoes, make him stand outside for hours without any clothes,” the victim’s grandfather said.

The minor lost his mother in 2018, after which his father got remarried to take care of the child but the marriage couldn’t last long eventually leading to divorce. The boy was left in the care of his maternal grandparents, said Madan Mohan Rout.

Later, the boy’s paternal uncle and aunt took him with them but started torturing him badly. During Dussehra, the maternal grandparents of the victim visited their house to meet him, where they got to know about all the tortures the victim was tolerating and not speaking out in the fear of getting killed. ‘

The police registered a case and initiated a probe per the minor statement. The police would also present the child before the Child Welfare Committee for Counseling.