Kerala battered boy battles for life

Zee Media Bureau

Thiruvananthapuram: The five-year-old boy, who was brutally beaten by his father and his second wife, is said to be critical said on Friday. The child was admitted to a private hospital at Kattappana Monday with serious injuries. The boy was admitted after his father brought him to the hospital with head injuries which he said he suffered after falling from a ladder. Doctors treating the boy said he was responding to treatment but was still in critical condition and his chances of recovery, as of now, were only 25 percent. The boy is on ventilator support. But doctors realised the boy also had burn marks on his body, a deep wound on the head and a broken leg. The boy was also frail and looked very frightened. They alerted the police. Once the father and his second wife were quizzed, police learnt that the boy had been subjected to brutality. Both have been arrested. Apart from being brutally beaten up causing deep injuries on the head and chin, the child`s body was found to have been scoured by nails, police said. After the death of the child`s mother a few years back, his father had married another woman.