Guwahati doctor couple arrested for torturing adopted daughter

One of the couple’s neighbours had on Friday approached the police with a photograph of the minor girl tied to a pole on the terrace in summer heat.

A doctor couple and their domestic help were arrested in Guwahati for allegedly torturing the couple’s four-year-old girl, who the couple said they had adopted more than three years ago, police said on Sunday.

During questioning, the doctor confessed that he used to hit the child with a hot iron rod and even poured hot water on her body, said police. (Representational image)

Police on Saturday night arrested psychiatrist Sangeeta Baruah from a house in Meghalaya’s Ri Bhoi district, a day after her husband Dr Walliul Islam, a gastrointestinal and advanced general surgeon, was detained from their house in Guwahati’s Manipuri Basti area, said an officer aware of the matter.

One of the couple’s neighbours had on Friday approached the police with a photograph of the minor girl tied to a pole on the terrace in summer heat, after which the Paltan Bazar Police registered a suo motu case against the couple under sections 307 (attempt to murder), 325 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt), 342 (wrongful restraint) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO).

During questioning, the doctor confessed that he used to hit the child with a hot iron rod and even poured hot water on her body, said police.

The doctors’ domestic help, Lakshmi Rai was also held shortly after the couple’s arrest.

Rai told cops that she was asked to tie the minor on the terrace to punish the child for being “disobedient” and “naughty”, said police.

The couple has said that they had adopted the child three-and-a-half years ago, but there is no documentation of the minor’s adoption, said police.

Assam police spokesperson Prasanta Kumar Bhuyan told HT on Sunday, “The doctor couple was asked to show documents of adoption which they could not furnish.”

“This is an unfortunate incident. There were earlier complaints as well that the two were abusing the child, but now they have been arrested based on solid proof. The couple was produced before the court on Sunday which sent them to police remand. Further investigation is underway,” said Bhuyan.

The minor was rescued and sent to a government shelter home in Guwahati where she was also provided medical treatment.

Since the minor was not adopted legally, police are also trying to find the source from where the couple got the child, said an office aware of the matter.

Child rights activist Miguel Das Queah said, “There were complaints about the doctor couple abusing their child earlier as well, however there was no proof until the neighbour clicked a photo of the minor tied on the terrace.”