Father held for tying rubber band to child’s genital to prevent bed-wetting

Mysuru: In a shocking incident, a man tied rubber bands to his little son’s genital every night to prevent him from bed-wetting. He has now been arrested. The incident came to light yesterday at a review meeting chaired by Women’s Commission Chairperson Nagalakshmi Bai at the Deputy Commissioner’s office.

Malini, counsellor at the women’s special care unit in K.R. Hospital told the meeting that the child, who had lost his mother, was being harassed by his father who is a farmer. The child is four-and-a-half-years-old and the perpetrator father is a resident of Periyapatna.

On Aug. 9, Santhwana Women’s Helpline (SWH) of the Department of Women and Child Development received a complaint about the farmer ill-treating his son. Shwetha, a counsellor attached to the SWH, visited the anganwadi where the child is enrolled. The SWH authorities were shocked when they found the child’s genitals swollen and wounded.

As the child’s genital was tied with a rubber band, his hands and stomach too were swollen. The boy child has now been admitted to a hospital where he is recuperating.

The child’s father would take care of his daughter well and he used to suspect his wife’s fidelity. He suspected that the child was born out of his wife’s illicit relationship. SWH authorities said that the child’s father might be suffering from a mental illness. Periyapatna Police said, the Child Development Project Officer (CDPO) of Periyapatna lodged an oral complaint against the father.

Yesterday, officials of Department of Women and Child Development brought the issue to the notice of Nagalakshmi Bai who directed the officers to register a written Police complaint against the child’s father.

Sometime before, the little boy was lodged at a rehabilitation centre, but his father took the child away promising to take care of him. But again, he started harassing the boy. Now, the child is back at the rehabilitation centre, Deputy Director for Women and Child Welfare K. Radha told Star of Mysore.