Child safety: Mother beats six-year-old son to death

Neighbours heard screams from their house early in the morning .

LAHORE:

A single mother beat her son to death on Friday night.  

Police said that Mahjabeen, 34, a single mother, lived with her six-year-old son Haider in Nadir Abad. Police said they received a call from her neighbours early in the morning. One of the neighbours heard screams from their house at around 6am. She went to investigate and saw the boy lying on the floor.

Ramazan, a neighbour, told The Express Tribune that the woman had often beaten her son up. Neighbours often heard the child screaming and crying in the house, he said. “Everyone knew she was mentally deranged. Mahjabeen’s mother came to live with them six months ago and left only a month back after Mahjabeen’s condition appeared to have improved.”

Police said they had recovered the body and taken the woman to South Cantt police station.

South Cantt SHO Hussain Farooq said the autopsy of the body had concluded. He said no one had claimed the body yet. He said the woman had tried to rip off her clothes and sworn at the policemen.

SHO Farooq said Mahjabeen had been taken to Punjab Institute of Mental Health Institute. He also said no one has filed a complaint yet.

The boy had been beaten with some blunt object.

Neighbours said that Haider had been a student of prep class at a local school. His parents had separated two years ago. The father now lived in France. Punjab Institute of Mental Health Assistant Medical Superintendent Dr Khalid Shah said if anyone in the woman’s family knew about her mental illness, they should not have left the child alone with her.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 27^th, 2014.