Idukki, August 12: The parents and grandfather of a 3-year old child were awarded jail term by a local court for for brutally torturing the child and chaining him at home with a dog as his lone companion.
Case was registered against Benny (28), his wife Manju (26) and Benny’s father Antony (57) after local people brought the plight of the hapless child to the notice of charity workers and police a couple of years back.
Additional Sessions judge at Thodupuzha, T U Mathukutty, yesterday sentenced all the three to two-and-a-half years imprisonment finding them guilty of charges of inflicting tourture and keeping the child under unlawful detention.
During the investigation it was found that most of the days the parents of the child used to go out for work after chaining the boy to the pillar at the open space in front of the house.
Often, a dog was also chained to the same pillar. A relative of Benny happened to see the pathetic state of the child while on a visit to the house.
He immediately informed the priest of a nearby church of the cruelty.
They then sought the help of the police and the boy was rescued from the parents and taken to a charity home in the district. Signs of burns from cigarette butts were seen on the boy’s body when he was rescued.