Gopalganj (Bihar): Indian parents, at times, resort to thrashing their kids when they indulge in any mischief. Corporal punishment, though wrong, is a common practice when it comes to Indian parenthood. However, this case, where a 12-year-old child was strangulated to death by his own father for beating up other kids, shows all signs of how parenting, in this instance, has hit a new low.
The incident first surfaced when the child's body was found on Tuesday on the shores of a lake in Ekderwa village in Bihar's Gopalganj. This was after the child's father filed a missing report on Monday. A Special Investigation Team led by Sub-Divisional Police Officer Sadar Sanjeev Kumar that conducted the search operation found the child's body covered in mud. It had deep wounds on both sides of the neck.
The police launched an investigation into the case. After questioning villagers and going through technical evidence, the police called the parents, father Shambhu Singh and mother Chhoti Devi, for questioning. It was then found out that the father had actually killed their child unintentionally, the Gopalganj Superintendent of Police Swarna Prabhat said.
During police interrogation, it was revealed by the mother Chhoti Devi that her deceased son often used to engage in squabbles with other children which led to physical violence. Even after repeated explanations, the child did not obey them, the mother said. Shambhu Singh, the father, who was drunk at the time, assaulted his son on Monday, March 19, by tying a rope around his neck in a bid to scare him. However, in the heat of the moment, the rope was tightened to such an extent that the child died of suffocation, Chhoti Devi said.
In order to hush up the incident, the parents dumped the child's dead body in a lake. Then they spread misinformation among the villagers that their son had died of drowning in the lake. The rope used for strangulation was recovered by the police from the parent's place based on their confession.
