Nurse says tortured 7-yr-old for not studying, watching cartoons

The girl was rescued on February 9 after her school teacher noticed scars and injury marks on her body and brought it to the attention of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), which registered a case at the RK Puram police station.

A 50-year-old nurse, arrested for the alleged physical abuse and torture of a 7-year-old girl who she illegally adopted, said she beat the child to “straighten her out” for not studying enough and for watching too many cartoons, Delhi Police officers investigating the case said on Saturday.

Police said that the woman and her son would heat a knife or tongs, and would brand the nine-year-old child with it. (FILE)

The girl was rescued on February 9 after her school teacher noticed scars and injury marks on her body and brought it to the attention of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), which registered a case at the RK Puram police station. The nurse’s 27-year-old biological son, who allegedly also participated in the torture, was arrested the same day, while the woman was arrested from Haridwar on February 16, police said.

Police said the girl’s injuries have healed and she is currently in the care of the CWC.

A senior police officer said, “The woman couldn’t produce any documents to prove that she had legally adopted the girl. She had desired a girl child and informally decided to adopt her relative’s daughter about five years ago.”

The officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the woman told police that two years after taking the girl in, she started regretting her decision. “There were times when the child wouldn’t obey her, like any other child her age. However, this was not what the nurse had imagined, and this frustrated her… She decided that if she punished the child, the girl, as she said, would be straightened out,” said the officer.

For the illegal adoption, police have booked the nurse under section 80 of the Juvenile Justice Act, which pertains to adoption without going through the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA), the central government’s single nodal authority for adoption. “We are pursuing the illegal adoption matter along with the issue of the cruelty and inhuman behaviour towards the child,” said the officer.

The officer said that the woman and her son would heat a knife or tongs, and would brand the child with it. “During the winters, she would be made to sit outside wearing threadbare clothes as punishment for disobedience,” the officer said.

According to police, the woman and her son usually assaulted the girl while the nurse’s husband was away. On the few occasions that he saw the alleged torture, he stepped in to save the child, police said. However, the man never alerted authorities about it. “He thought his family would be destroyed if he complained,” said the officer.

Arvind Pratap Singh, the station house officer (SHO) of the RK Puram police station, on Friday said that the girl, in a statement before the magistrate, said the woman would beat her with blunt objects such as mobile phone chargers, and even injured her with a knife.

“During the investigation, Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 307 (attempt to murder) was added,” SHO Singh said in the statement. The police had initially registered a case under the JJ Act, IPC and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.