NT Reporter
Margao
The Colva Police have arrested a 27-year-old man and remanded him to four-day police custody for allegedly inflicting severe burn injuries on a three-and-a-half-year-old girl using a lit candle.
The police identified the accused as Hazrat Ali Mehabub Saab. According to officials, the victim resides at Davorlim under the care of an extended family as her mother works overseas.
The incident occurred after the child was invited to the accused’s residence in Colva to play with his child.
The police said the accused became enraged after the child inadvertently soiled the living area while he was having food. He allegedly used a lit candle to repeatedly burn the girl, causing severe injuries on her body.
The abuse came to light nearly a week later following the intervention of a local non-governmental organisation. The victim was rescued and admitted to the South Goa District Hospital in Margao, where doctors documented and treated multiple burn
injuries.
The police have registered a first information report against the accused under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Goa Children’s Act.
