A five-month old boy died two days after an iron nail pierced his forehead while his father was allegedly beating his mother with a stick that had a protruding nail in east Delhi’s Kondli, police said on Wednesday.
The police are looking for the child’s father, who is absconding since his death. The man earlier worked as an operation theatre (OT) technician in a private hospital in Ghaziabad. He was unemployed for the past few months. The child’s mother works as a nurse in a private clinic. A case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder has been registered under section 304 of Indian Penal Code at the Ghazipur police station.
Police said the toddler was in his mother’s lap when his father allegedly started assaulting her with the stick following a quarrel over some issue on Sunday. During the assault, the stick hit the child’s forehead. An iron nail attached to the stick pierced his forehead and he started bleeding, the police said.
“The parents panicked and rushed him to a nearby clinic where a doctor gave the child first aid and discharged him because it was a minor wound and not very deep,” said a police officer, associated with the case.
According to the officer, the child was recovering and was fine until Tuesday morning when he started throwing up. His parents against rushed him to the clinic where the doctors found the child’s condition critical and referred him to a private hospital in Patparganj.
“The child was brought to the hospital where doctors declared him brought dead. The hospital authorities informed police about the toddler’s death, who was brought there by his mother. A police team reached there and took the child’s body in their custody,” the officer added.
The body of the toddler was sent to Lal Bahadur Shastri hospital where autopsy was conducted. The autopsy report revealed that the child died due to internal bleeding in his head.
“A team has been formed to nab the absconding father,” said the officer.
The couple lived in a rented house and were married around two and half years ago. The five-month old boy was their only child.
