Brothers aged six and fifteen complain of threat to their lives from parents

ERODE: Two brothers, aged six and fifteen, on Monday, filed a complaint with the Superintendent of Police seeking action against their parents for allegedly torturing and threatening to kill them.

In their complaint, the children said that they were forced to do household chores, failing which they were tortured by their parents and two of their paramours. "The punishments included rubbing chilly powder in our private parts, forcing us to eat food cooked with rotten vegetables, making us drink toilet cleaners, and sleep in the bathroom or on the terrace without shirts," they said in the complaint. 

The children's maternal grandparents accompanied them to the district police office.

Both the father and mother were involved in extramarital relationships but continued to live together with their partners in the same house, according to the complaint letter.

The children were also asked to call the man in a relationship with their mother as 'father' and their own father as 'uncle', according to the complaint. 

On February 23, the siblings escaped to their grandparents' house after their parents threatened to carry out a 'narabali', a superstitious sacrifice. 

Later, the grandparents later lodged a complaint with a local police station. On receiving information, the Child Welfare Committee issued a 'temporary placement order', allowing the children to stay with their grandparents till the case is fully investigated.

However, the grandparents and other relatives constantly received threats from their parents to send the children back to their house, the complaint added. 

Sources in the Child Welfare Committee said that a call would be taken on sending the children to a government home if the problem persisted. Police officials said that they were investigating the case and would take action as required.