Palakkad: A five-year-old girl suffered severe burns after her stepmother allegedly burned her with a hot spatula as punishment for bedwetting at Kanjikode. The Walayar police have arrested the child’s stepmother, Noor Nazar alias Rubi (35), a native of Bihar, in connection with the incident.

The child is the daughter of Muhammad Intias, a Nepalese national and an employee at a hotel here. The family has settled at Kizhakkemuri in Kanjikode. 

The attack on the child reportedly occurred on January 2 but came to light only on January 8, when an Anganwadi teacher noticed burn injuries on the child. According to the teacher, the girl was struggling to sit on a bench at the Anganwadi. On being questioned, the child disclosed that she had been assaulted by her stepmother.

Following this, the child was taken to the Primary Health Centre in Pudusseri for a medical examination, after which a case was registered. The girl is currently under the care of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC).

Police told Onmanorama that the accused has been booked for voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous means and cruelty to a child under Section 118(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, respectively. According to the police, the child has been facing brutal torture from the stepmother for a long time.

A local court remanded the accused to judicial custody for 14 days.