Engineer arrested for torturing minor girl

Engineer arrested for torturing minor girl
TNN

Photo credits:Anil Lad

PANAJI: In a gruesome case of child abuse, a ten year old girl employed as a maid in a house at Porvorim was admitted to the Goa Medical College and Hospital with burn injuries on her thighs and back.

Porvorim police have arrested her employer Audumber (Shubham) Pednekar, a civil engineer by profession, and registered a case under section 324 read with 34 of IPC and section 7(c) and 8 (2) of the Goa Children's Act against him.

Audumber's wife, Minaxi and his sister-in-law Tina have been named as co-accused in the case, but are yet to be arrested. Porvorim police said that the minor girl, employed as a maid at Pednekar's house, was punished for allegedly "stealing" the medicine of their seven month old twins and drinking it as the girl was feeling unwell.

The matter came to light on Saturday when the minor, tired of the alleged repeated beatings and unable to bear the torture, escaped from Pednekar's house in Soccoro and reached Mapusa. At Mapusa she asked a shopkeeper for some money to eat something. Seeing her condition the shop owner informed the Mapusa police who arrived immediately.

At the police station the cops found that the girl could barely sit as she had burn injuries on her back and thighs. They immediately contacted an NGO who took the child to Porvorim police station and lodged a complaint against the three.



In her complaint director of NGO, SCAN Audrey Pinto said that since the past two or three months the three accused have been allegedly assaulting the minor girl with cable wires and also burned her placing a hot, flat steel frying pan on the girl's thighs and back resulting in the burn injuries.

Police said they are yet to record the girl's statement as she is recuperating in hospital. Sources also said the girl revealed to the NGO that she is from Karnataka and that seven months back her mother had kept her in the house as a maid. However, her mother who earlier lived in Mapusa could not be traced.

27 July 2009, The Times of India, Goa edition