Baby suffers cardiac arrest and convulsions due to severe brain injuries
afflicted by her father.
Four days after being badly battered by her father, three-month-old Baby Neha Afreen’s condition has worsened with the Vani Vilas doctors stating that she is ‘critical’, having slipped into a coma. She has suffered two cardiac arrests and repeated convulsions due to the damage to her brain.
It has also come to light that on Thursday Umar Farooq, 22, had not only battered his baby girl’s head with a blunt object, but also burnt her with a lit cigarette and bitten her on the back.
He allegedly also tried to kill the baby. He first stuffed his wife Reshma Bhanu’s veil into Baby Neha’s mouth and then tried to smother her with a pillow in the early hours of Wednesday. But the baby was saved when Reshma woke.
“On Thursday morning, Reshma was asked to bring ration from the nearest shop while she was feeding her baby. Farooq told her he would feed the baby mashed biscuit with milk till her return. But when Reshma returned home she found the baby was vomiting and bleeding from the mouth. She immediately rushed the baby to Vani Vilas hospital,” said Touseef, Reshma’s brother-in-law.
Touseef has alleged that Farooq has been making repeated attempts to kill Baby Neha since the past two weeks, before the brutal assault on Thursday night.
“Farooq has also bitten the baby on her back and on the hands,” said assistant commissioner of police, KR Puram sub-division, D Narayanaswamy.
Farooq’s ghastly acts have attracted the attention of the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KSCPCR). Its chairperson, Nina P Nayak, said, “When we spoke to the doctors we found that the baby was in a coma and had suffered cardiac arrest twice, once on Sunday and once on Monday.”
Nayak visited Vani Vilas Hospital along with members of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC).
“We have counselled Reshma and found that she was taking care of her baby very well and that the baby was very healthy,” she said. “What we all have to think is what kind of action and steps should be taken immediately. The local anganwadi should also keep track on girl children till they attain six years of age,” she added.
Meanwhile, Farooq, who was arrested on Sunday has been remanded in judicial custody and is lodged in Parapanna Agrahara Central Jail. He has been booked under Indian Penal Code Sections 307 (attempt to murder), 498(A) (dowry harassment), and sections 3 and 4 of Dowry Harassment Act, besides section 24 of Juvenile Justice Act. A case has also been registered in CWC.
“Farooq married Reshma on December, 5, 2010, but allegedly started harassing her for dowry a month later. But her father who sold ice candy, could not afford to pay dowry,” said Touseef.
Farooq, a mechanic, is a drug addict and an alcoholic. He was separated from his first wife. This was known to Reshma’s family members who despite it agreed to marry their daughter to him. It was only later that they learnt that his first marriage had broken down as he used to harass her too.
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