THE GOAN NETWORK
VASCO: In a shocking incident, the owner of a daycare centre in Chicalim was on Tuesday booked by Vasco police on charges of inflicting burn injuries on a nine-year-old boy.
Vasco police had received a complaint from the boy's mother on Monday evening stating that the accused, Renu alias Avni Halpati, had subjected her child to cruelty and also inflicted burn injuries on both his hands.
Vasco PI Nolasco Raposo said the police have registered an offence against the accused under Section 8 of Goa Children Act and Section 324 of IPC.
"We have conducted investigations in the centre. The police is also verifying if Halpati has the necessary licence to operate a daycare from competent authorities and further evidence is being collected," said Raposo.
Narrating details of the incident, the victim's mother informed reporters that the boy had been in the daycare centre for around a year, since both parents were working and they were paying the centre Rs 3,400 per month.
"The incident happened on May 31, when Halpati inflicted burn injuries on both my son's hands. We were shocked to find the marks when he came home.”
“He was frightened and when we asked our son, he said a 2-year-old boy had done it. We knew it could not have been the work of a small child as his hand must have been held tightly before inflicting the burn marks.”
“Over the next few days, we kept persuading him to divulge details and after four days he revealed that Halpati had done it and she had also threatened him that if he reported the matter at home she would beat him up,” said the mother.
"It took us five days to convince our child to disclose the details and when we confronted Halpati, she came to us at night requesting us not to file a case.”
“But this incident has to be reported as other parents should be careful and we reported the matter to Vasco police station,” the mother added.
