Five-year-old in Delhi dies after alleged assault by mother’s live-in partner

The incident took place on January 10. The child died during treatment at a private hospital two days later.

A five-year-old boy died after he was assaulted allegedly by his mother’s live-in partner for failing to recite the numeric table at his home in southwest Delhi’s Samalkha village near Kapashera, police said on Tuesday.

Police said that during interrogation, the woman’s live-in partner revealed that the child’s head hit a concrete wall while he was beating him for not reciting numeric table properly. (Getty Images/ Representative Image)

The incident took place on January 10. The child died during treatment at a private hospital two days later.

Police said the boy’s mother, a private school teacher, and her live-in partner concealed the crime by allegedly claiming that the boy started feeling dizzy after eating a ‘ladoo(sweet)’ and fell in the bathroom, because of which he suffered injuries in his head and other parts of the body. However, their claims fell flat when the boy’s autopsy report confirmed that he died of serious head injuries and physical assault, said police.

Deputy commissioner of police (southwest) Devendra Arya said a case of murder and criminal conspiracy with common intention was registered against the boy’s mother and her live-in partner at the Kapashera police station.

“The case was registered on a complaint filed by the child’s biological father. The woman’s live-in partner, Narender, has been arrested. We are questioning the woman to ascertain his role in the entire crime. As of now we have established that she lied to the doctors by claiming that her son fell in the bathroom,” said Arya.

“We interrogated Narender and he revealed that the child’s head hit a concrete wall while he was beating him for not reciting numeric table properly. The child’s mother was not at home when the incident took place. Narender informed her about the incident after admitting the child at the hospital,” the DCP added.

Police said the boy’s father in his complaint told them ithat in April 2018, the woman left her husband’s home with her son and started living with Narender in a rented home in Samalkha village, said police.

“ In the past, the child had told his father that Narender used to beat him. The father did not take his son’s complain seriously,” said a police officer, associated with the case.

On January 10, police said, the woman called her husband on his cell phone number and informed that their son was admitted in a private hospital. He reached the hospital where his wife told him that their son had fallen sick after eating a ladoo and suffered injuries after falling in the bathroom. The man filed the complaint when doctors told him about the autopsy report, said police.