Sulur anaganwadi caretaker held for caning three-year-old

Police said that the accused Mallika Babu (30), of Sulur, on the outskirts of the city, was the caretaker of the anganwadi centre at Kurumbapalayam for the last six years. It is learnt that 15 children aged below five, including 13 girls, come to the centre every day. 

The victim V Ashwanth (3) joined the centre on June 7 as his parents were labourers in a private unit. Police said that on Wednesday the boy’s father K Vijayakumar (29) dropped the boy at the anganwadi around 10 am. The boy was reportedly continuously crying and insisted that he wanted to go home and see his mother. 

Mallika, who was not able to pacify the boy, tied his hands and legs and beat him on his back and legs with a stick. The body suffered blood clots all over his back. Vijayakumar, who came to pick up the boy, was horrified to see the bruises on Ashwanth’s back. 

Vijayakumar told the police that Mallika, besides beating the child, had also put chilli powder inside the boy’s mouth to stop him crying. Acting on a complaint from the boy’s father, the Sulur police after an inquiry with Mallika, the victim and other children at the centre booked Mallika under sections 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 294 (b) (using abusive language) and 506(i) (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code. 

She was arrested, produced before the court and lodged in jail. Officials from the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) have also begun an inquiry into the incident. They said that stringent action would be taken against Mallika if the charges against her found to be true.