Child ‘torture’: mother to be put in shelter home

The district Child Welfare Committee on Thursday decided to shift Seleena, her eight-year-old child, and a three-month-old girl to the Swather Shelter Home at Cheruthoni until the police completed the formalities for legal action against her and her husband Nazeer for ‘brutally torturing’ their nine-year-old child Noufal.

Noufal is undergoing treatment at Government Medical College, Kalamassery, after he was found physically tortured by the parents last Tuesday. Nazeer, who runs a wayside shop, is in the Devikulam sub-jail after he was arrested in a ganja case.

Alerted by neighbour

The couple had been living in a rented house at Koombanpara, near Adimaly, for the past one month. It was after an alert by a neighbour and an autorickshaw driver that the plight of the boy came to light.

CWC chairman P.G. Goplakrishnan told The Hindu on Thursday that the District Child Protection Officer would take care of them at the shelter home.

The committee decided to send Saleena to the shelter home as the younger child needed the mother’s care. Before coming to Adimaly, the family was staying in Ernakulam. They were actually from Kannur and were fish workers there. Seleena told the committee that her husband was a drug-addict and they have five children. Two others were staying with their relatives.

Child Rights Commission member Meena Kuruvila took the statement of Noufal. As the condition of the boy continued to be serious, more evidences would be collected once his health improved.