Mom, uncle burn 5-yr-old with cigarette butts, held in Odisha

KENDRAPADA: A woman and her cousin were arrested on Wednesday for inflicting multiple cigarette butt burns on her five-year-old son in Odisha's Jajpur district. The boy, who suffered injuries on his back, belly and hands, is now hospitalised. He will be housed in the government-run child care institution in Jajpur, said district child protection officer (DCPO) Niranjan Kar.
The DCPO lodged a police complaint against the child's mother, Rashmi Mohapatra (25) and her cousin Kamalakanta Mohapatra (28) of Gopalpur village under Bairi police station limits in Jajpur district for brutally assaulting and inflicting cigarette burns on the boy on Tuesday.
Some locals informed the district childline about the assault after which police and childline officials rescued the child on Tuesday night. "We took him to a hospital in Jajpur. The doctor diagnosed the injuries as cigarette burns," said IIC of Bairi police station, Pradipta Kanungo.
He said there have been differences between Rashmi and her husband, Jitendra. "Jitendra has been living separately for the past two years," added Kanungo.
Police, however, are yet to ascertain the reason behind torturing the child. Both have been booked under Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 294 (obscene language), 506 (criminal intimation) and 342 (wrongful confinement) of the IPC and under Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, police sources said.