'Monster parents' may get punishment today

A Delhi court is all set to award punishment to the man and his second wife who tortured their son after the death of his mother. HT reports.

A Delhi court is all set to award punishment to the man and his second wife who tortured their son after the death of his mother.

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Additional sessions judge Virender Bhat, who on Monday convicted the couple of battering the child with the intention to kill, is likely to pronounce the order on their sentence on Wednesday after hearing the prosecution and convicts.

The couple, out on bail throughout the course of the trial, was taken into custody immediately after the judgment on their conviction was delivered.

A former Army Major, Lalit Balhara, and his second wife Preeti would torture the child - Balhara's son by his first marriage. The child, now 13 years old, deposed against his parents, saying they repeatedly tortured him.

The child's maternal grandparents had moved the Delhi high court in 2005, alleging that Balhara and his second wife had been torturing the child after his mother's death. A medical report, filed on the HC's order, concluded that the child was suffering from 'battered baby syndrome'.

Handing over the child's custody to his maternal grandfather, the HC had called for a probe. The Delhi Police had filed a chargesheet against the couple in 2009 - four years after the Delhi HC ordered the probe.

Frequently hospitalised with broken ribs, hands, a bleeding skull and smashed teeth, the child was repeatedly assaulted, kept locked up and starved, which ultimately led to him developing physical deformities.

Denying the allegations, the couple said the child was "special" since birth and suffered injuries after falling off chairs and tables. The Balharas were charged with attempt to murder and also convicted under the Juvenile Justice Act.