Eight-year-old, Ashutosh, who lost his vision after his ‘stepmother’ allegedly poured acid into his eyes, recounted the horror he went through in his statements to the police on Thursday.
In his statement, he told the police that his stepmother had given him tea laced with sedatives and the next morning when he woke up, he saw darkness all around him.
Division Number 3 station house officer (SHO) Satish Kumar said they have recorded the child’s statement and will register an FIR after getting a medical report in the FIR.
As per the doctors, the vision in one of his eyes can be rectified with time but the other eye has been completely damaged.
When Hindustan Times, spoke to the child, he said that when he woke up in the morning, he found utter darkness all around him. “I complained to my stepmother but she told me that it must be due to the cold and that I would be fine in a while,” he said.
The matter had come to light when Ashutosh’s uncle, Shailendra, was told by neighbours that the eight-year-old was crying incessantly. When he went to their house, Ashutosh’s stepmother told him that he had accidentally fallen off the bed and injured himself.
Initially, Ashutosh too said that he had fallen off the bed but after reaching the hospital, he narrated an entirely different story. The child reportedly revealed that he feared that his stepmother would beat him if he did not stick to her story.
{{/usCountry}}Initially, Ashutosh too said that he had fallen off the bed but after reaching the hospital, he narrated an entirely different story. The child reportedly revealed that he feared that his stepmother would beat him if he did not stick to her story.
{{/usCountry}}The child said his stepmother used to mix some tablets in his tea, which used to make him nauseous. When he asked her about it, she used to tell him that it was to save him from cold and fever. “I used to vomit after drinking the tea and she used to thrash me over it,” he said, adding that on January 8, she had given him tea and after drinking it, he had fallen asleep. The next day when he woke up, all he could see was darkness around him.
Showing injury marks on his body, Ashutosh also alleged that his stepmother used to beat him with iron rods for no reason. She used to brandish him with hot spoons and make him sleep in the open on cold nights.
The boy’s uncle said neighbours are witnesses of the atrocities perpetrated by the woman on the boy. He alleged that despite lodging a complaint, the police are dilly-dallying the matter.