Hyderabad: A 19-year-old girl, who was brutally tortured by her father and stepmother for property, was rescued on Wednesday by officials of the State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights and the LB Nagar police.
The girl had several injuries caused by blunt instruments and cuts and burns all over her body. Her face was mutilated and eyes were swollen, said rescue officials. The victim, Prathy-usha, was branded with hot irons, cut with sharp weapons and hit with iron rods. Her stepmother allegedly made her drink cleaning agents and poured acid on her cheeks. Her father too slapped her often and burnt her with cigarettes. The officials, who rescued her after neighbours alerted them, said that the couple had planned to kill the girl slowly in order to grab her property worth lakhs.
Prathyusha suffered for almost seven months before being rescued from the LB Nagar house. The police has arrested the girl’s stepmother, Shyamala alias Cham-undeshwari, while her father, Ramesh, a junior telecom officer in BSNL, is absconding.
The victim was confined to a storeroom in their house in Ananda-nagar. Locals heard the girl’s screams during the last few days. They also found her parents’ unusual as they were always aloof. Neigh-bours alerted the police and child rights officials who raided the house.
“I was put in an orphanage after my mother died. They brought me here five years ago but did not allow me to study. My stepmother used to choke me if I did not do the difficult tasks she gave me. She used to beat me brutally. She would make me drink cleaning agents and if I refused she would pour it into my mouth forcefully” said Prathyusha.
“I was not allowed to wear good clothes. They never fed me properly and if I ate anything when I am hungry, she would snatch it away and torture me for hours,” she said.
Doctors treating Pra-thyusha said there were old and fresh injuries on her body.
Police said Prathy-usha’s father Ramesh had married her mother Sarala in 1991 and divorced her in 2003. Sarala died later. Prathyusha was entitled to a two-storied house, which was reportedly gifted by Sarala’s parents.
Shyamala was a maid in the same house and had a relationship with Ramesh before they got married. However, they do not have children. Meanwhile, Shyamala, who is in custody now, claimed that the injuries on the victim’s body were self inflicted. “The girl used to drink cleaning agents. We did not do anything. She did it herself,” she claimed.
The police has booked a case against the couple for attempt to murder and wrongful confinement. “A case under IPC Sections 307, 342, and 326, has been booked against the accused. They will be arrested soon,” said LB Nagar inspector E. Srinivas Reddy.
