Anantnag: A little boy has triggered off a huge controversy here in Seer Hamdan area of Anantnag district by accusing his uncle, a policeman by profession, of scalding him with a hot iron on his face, legs and back.
The child, not more than 8 years of age, has said that his father’s brother punished him with such horrific means but the child’s mother says that she inflicted the punishment, “for smoking cigarettes and stealing things”, and her husband’s brother had nothing to do with it.
The incident came to fore after a video of the child – with burn marks on the left side of his face, his ear, his legs and his back – went viral over social media. “Ashraf did this to me,” said the child in the video when asked about the burns. “I was also grounded and not allowed to move out of the house for four days,” he said.
Ashraf Ahmad Rather, a resident of Waedwan and currently residing in Seer Hamdan area, is the boy’s paternal uncle and works in the police. The boy and his mother stay with Ashraf in a recently bought house at School Colony, Seer Hamdan, while the boy’s father, Ali Muhammad Rather, works in Waedwan as a labourer.
In another video, in possession of Kashmir Reader, the boy again said that his “Chhota Papa” did this to him. “He did this to me upstairs,” the boy says in this video.
The boy’s mother, however, maintains that she did that to the boy as she sometimes loses her senses because of the medication she is on after undergoing surgeries.
“He stole things and smoked cigarettes. I did not know what else to do, so I did that to him,” the boy’s mother said, adding that Ashraf was being unnecessarily dragged into the whole thing.
“He (Ashraf) has nothing to do with this. He is on duty and did nothing,” the boy’s mother said.
Ashraf said that the previous owner of the house, Nazir Ahmad Khan, was trying to “frame him”.
“He is not providing me the documents of the house I have bought from him and in return he is trying to frame me now,” Ashraf told Kashmir Reader. “Besides, Khan often sent the kid to buy cigarettes which probably prompted him to smoke.”
Ashraf said that he was on duty on the day this incident happened. “I have nothing to do with it. His mother has punished him for his ill behaviour. I am only being framed,” he said.
The previous owner, Nazir Ahmad Khan, told Kashmir Reader that it was not a matter of the documents but the “savagery” that had been unleashed on the kid.
“I have sold my house and I have given him (Ashraf) a power of attorney for that. As far as documents are concerned, it’s him who has to get them made and I will sign them. He never initiated the process, though,” Khan said.
There was no question of “framing” Ahraf, Khan said. “We are neighbours and I dearly love this kid. How can someone do this to such a young soul? Besides, I am not blaming Ashraf, it’s his nephew who has named him.”
Khan also acknowledged that he sometimes sent the kid to fetch cigarettes from the nearby shop, “as is the norm in villages. But it’s a mistake on my part and I am ready to be punished for that,” he said.
The Station House Officer (SHO) Mattan told Kashmir Reader that the police were yet to receive a complaint in this regard. “The Child Welfare department has reached the family and we will act as and when a complaint is registered with us,” the SHO said.
The child welfare group “Child Line”, run under the umbrella of Ministry of Women and Child Development, has taken cognisance of the matter and the child has been sent to one-day custody with the local Auqaaf Committee.
“It is evident that the child has been tortured and that is the reason we have taken cognisance. A police case will be lodged and the child will be produced before the authorities tomorrow,” the Project Coordinator of Child Line, Shujaat Farhan, told Kashmir Reader.
He requested that no pictures of the child be used by the media for he is of a tender age and such publicity can leave him disturbed.
In the locality where the family lives, dozens of people had gathered and wanted the family to immediately vacate the accommodation. The tension was eased off after some elders intervened and saved the family from being driven out.

Suhail A Shah