Man booked for hitting teen daughter with metal pliers

A man in Mumbai was booked for hitting his 14-year-old daughter with metal pliers on her head after she called the Childline helpline for help.

MUMBAI: A man was booked on Monday for hitting his 14-year-old daughter with a pair of metal pliers on her head. The girl called the Childline helpline 1098, informing them of the assault as well as the ongoing verbal assault she had been bearing for some time.

sadness of child (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

According to the social worker, Shobha Agashe, she received a call from the teenager around 11 pm on Sunday. “She was scared and could only say that her father had hit her on her head through sobs. I went to her house on Monday morning, where I found her alone. She said the incident took place on the evening of January 27. He was annoyed at her, told her to leave his house, and hit her hard with a pair of kitchen pliers,” Agashe, the supervisor of the helpline, said in her complaint to the police.

In the complaint filed by the NGO, the teenager had called their helpline number in November and told them that her father would regularly beat her up and hurl abuses at her. “I visited their house the next day. When he heard about the allegations, the father said the girl did not listen to him and did not study or help around the house at all. She had then promised to obey her father and said she no longer had any complaints,” said Agashe. She further said she kept checking on the girl from time to time.

An officer from Andheri police said that the girl used to live in a hostel until some time ago. She had lost her mother at a young age. She told the police that her father would keep drinking alcohol and yelling at her ever since she came to live with him.

The girl said she reached out to the social worker as soon as she felt a bit better. After hearing her version of events, the girl was then presented in front of the child welfare committee, which has now placed her in a children’s home.

“We have booked the father under sections 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapon or means), 504 (insulting someone intentionally to provoke them), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code as well as the relevant section of the Juvenile Justice Act. “We are talking to the people in the neighbourhood and some acquaintances of the family to ascertain the facts,” said the officer.