Bengaluru: Neighbour thrashes 3-year-old boy with log for making noise

BENGALURU: A 3-year-old boy was beaten up brutally by his neighbour ‘uncle’. His crime: he was making noise while playing with his sister. The neighbour, Vaseem Akram, 30, a cab driver, was so annoyed by the noise that he took the boy into his house and beat him up with a wooden log. The incident took place on February 15 in Hidayath Nagar, in KG Halli police station limits.

The child’s mother alleged that he also tried to hang the boy from the ceiling fan, and based on her complaint, police arrested Akram, who is now out on bail. The woman said that she had left her son and six-year-old daughter in the house, and gone for a Mehendi ceremony, around 10.30am. She returned home around noon, and was taking her children to her parents’ house when she realised that her son was not able to walk, and complained of pain. She checked and found injuries all over his body.

“My children were playing in the house when Akram came and told them that they were disturbing him. He took them into his house and beat my son with a wooden log and also tried to hang him from the ceiling fan. My daughter told me that Akram had warned them not to tell anyone. He has injuries all over the body. Doctors have done a complete check, and a scan on his neck after finding marks on it,” she said.  The woman alleged that police have watered down the charges against Akram, and failed to take strict action. “Instead, they scolded us and sent us home. Akram was released in a few hours,”
she added.

An investigating officer said the mother had left the kids in Akram’s house, and when the child refused to eat his food, Akram had beaten him up. “ Akram reportedly admitted to police that he beat up the child because he was making noise. He also insisted that he had not beaten him with a log, but used only his hand. Shyam Sundar, senior advocate, said such a brutal assault on a child should be treated as an attempt to murder.

Commission will look into it

“Police should have booked attempt to murder case and also under the Juvenile Justice Act. The Commission will get in touch with the police and parents and necessary action will be taken,” said Dr Anthony Sebastion, chairperson, Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights.