A Kerala woman and her husband have been arrested for seriously injuring her one-year-old child.

A broken shoulder, a head injury, and bruises all over her body were among the severe injuries sustained by a one-year-old girl after her mother’s partner brutally attacked her. The man, identified as S Ratheesh, allegedly did not want the couple’s toddler to live with them. The incident occurred in Kerala’s Kannur district on June 13 when the baby’s grandmother removed her from the house and took her to a hospital for treatment. The child’s mother, Remya, and her partner, Ratheesh, were arrested at the Kelakam police station in Kannur after hospital officials informed the police.

Remya and Ratheesh had been living in a rented house in Kelakam for the past three weeks, according to the police. Remya’s previous marriage’s child, a one-year-old girl, had been living with the couple. According to police, Ratheesh brutally attacked the child, beating her with a wooden piece and injuring her head and arms. The child, who is currently being treated at Kannur’s Government Medical College Hospital, suffered a broken shoulder and a forehead injury. “Based on the preliminary investigation, Ratheesh was unhappy that the child was living with them because she was from Remya’s previous marriage,” a Kelakam police official said.

Ratheesh, according to the toddler’s maternal grandmother, did not allow Remya to care for the child. “He wouldn’t let the child sleep with them, give milk, or let her pick up the child. The child was always kept in a room corner. He used to complain about the child urinating in the house whenever we called them,” the grandmother told Manorama News.

Ratheesh, she claimed, had previously threatened to kill the child. “Yesterday (Saturday), when I called and inquired about the child, Remya stated that Ratheesh assaulted the child and she was injured. She asked me to come and take the child away, as directed by Ratheesh. I took the child to the hospital for treatment. The hospital officials then filed a police report,” the grandmother explained.

While police arrested Ratheesh for inflicting injuries on the toddler, Remya has been accused of concealing the child’s abuse. “The child’s injuries are only a few days old. Despite this, she did not take the child to a hospital or notify authorities. That is why we charged the mother in the case,” police said.

Ratheesh has been charged with violating sections 341 (wrongful restraint), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 342 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code, and section 75 (cruelty to children) of the Juvenile Justice Act. Remya has been charged in accordance with Section 75 of the JJ Act.

In a similar case, Arun Anand, a Thodupuzha resident, was arrested in 2019 for brutally assaulting his live-in partner’s seven-year-old child. The boy, who had suffered severe injuries, died 10 days later.

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