Kannur: The four-year-old kid with a speech disorder who sustained burns to his face and mouth after being fed scalding hot milk at an anganwadi in Kannur feels scared to have food and water, says his mother Jazana.
“Every time I give him food, he looks at me with fear. He is afraid to have food. The doctor informed us that the injury would have been serious if he had swallowed the milk,” says Jazana.
The child suffered serious burn injuries to his mouth, lower lip and chin. Anganavadi teacher V Rajitha and helper V Sheeba were suspended from service following a primary inquiry.
“I sent him to the Anganavadi to improve his socialising skills as the child is also undergoing speech therapy. On the day of the incident, they called me at around 11 am to inform me that his skin was peeling off from the chin. When I reached there what I saw was heartbreaking. We soon shifted him to the nearby health centre and they informed us to shift him to another hospital for better treatment. We then shifted him to a private hospital in Kozhikode where he underwent treatment for six days,” Jazana says
The boy has been a student for a year at the Kolad Anganvadi near Pinarayi in Kannur district. The teacher and the helper used to feed milk to the boy every day at the Anganwadi. On the day of the incident, they did not notice that the milk wasn't cooled properly before giving it to the kid.
“The child has been given special care at the Anganvadi as he has speech difficulties. The helper fed hot milk to the boy and they tried to conceal the incident first from the authorities. They have been suspended based on the findings of a primary investigation in which negligence from the side of the teacher and the helper was revealed,” ICDS Kannur District Programme Officer C A Bindu said.
The police have registered a case against helper V Sheeba under IPC sections 337 and 120 (O) of the Kerala Police Act. A case has also been registered by the Commission for the Protection of Child Rights against the helper.
