Assam police arrests doctor, wife for pouring hot water on 12-year-old domestic help

Guwahati: A doctor and his college principal wife who were accused of pouring hot water on their 12-year-old domestic help while he was asleep, were arrested from Nagaon on Saturday night, police said.

Siddhi Prasad Deuri, a doctor of Assam Medical College and Hospital in Dibrugarh, and his wife Mitali Konwar, Principal of Moran College, have been on the run.

Deuri allegedly had, in an inebriated state, poured hot water on the boy when he was sleeping in their house in Dibrugarh, while Konwar who was a witness to the incident was accused of not providing him with medical treatment.

"The couple, wanted for causing burn injury to the minor domestic help in Dibrugarh, was been arrested from Nagaon," Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) G P Singh said

The incident came to light when the District Child Welfare Committee rescued the boy on August 29 after receiving a video from an anonymous source, and informed the police. He is now kept in a child care centre.

The police recorded his statement and registered a case against the couple under various sections of the Child and Adolescent Labour Prohibition Act and Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act.

The police had gone to the residence of the couple to interrogate them but found that Deuri, a cancer patient, was being administered saline. They had asked the two to report to the local police station at the earliest.

The couple, however, had fled and the police launched a search operation to arrest them.