Victim of child abuse for reasons stemming from poverty:

The sad tale of a five-year-old

By Ananda Agalakada

It is a heartless world where poverty has no place. People do not sympathise with the less fortunate as they used to in the days gone by.

Five-year-old Hanath can’t understand what befell him

Victim with burn injuries

Even family has very little time for anybody else other than for themselves. Unknown to little Hanath he became a victim of child abuse for reasons stemming from poverty.

Hanath's mother did not want to beg to keep the home fires burning and was looking for greener pastures. She landed in three or four jobs in the Middle East but one was not better than the other.

Her husband was a no-do-gooder who was just not bothered about the children he had helped to bring to this world and this poor woman was doing everything within her means to feed and clothe her children.

Statistics on physical child abuse in Sri Lanka and the world over are alarming. It is estimated that many children are physically abused each year by a parent or close relative. For those who survive, the emotional trauma remains long after the external bruises have healed. " Whenever a youngster says he or she has been abused, serious note of the complaint must be taken and the perpetrators should be brought to book" this is the concerted view of parents and counsellors.

No option

Hanath and his sister were kept in the care of their mother's youngest sister who was also a mother of a five-month-old infant and had no extra source of income. She too had to manage with her meagre income which was insufficient to maintain even her own family.

Hanath's mother had no option but to keep her children in her younger sister's care.

This is another sad story of a child being mistreated. In this instance it is about a woman who develops a sense of hatred for a child who is five-years-old.

Hanath's sister was treated like a servant and had absolutely no time for her brother although she felt that he needed attention as he was just five-years-old. He was being bullied by their aunty all the time but these children bore all the trouble because they had no way out.

Little Hanath was yet unable to decide what was good and bad in the world. He was a child always looking for affection and for opportunities to play.

Hanath's parents engaged in odd jobs to make a living. It was in this backdrop that Hanath's mother, Anandi lived with a dream of going abroad for employment in an effort to overcome poverty.

One day she left the country with many expectations for her two children. Anandi however did not land with a successful job and was mistreated by her employer. Now she intended to return to her motherland giving up her dream.Hanath's father had no interest in his children. He enjoyed himself with what he earned. Anandi returned home one day.

She came to know that her husband did not pay any attention to the children and had spent all the money she had sent on him not sparing any money for the children. She knew she could not achieve her aspirations if she continued living with this man ho was a wastrel.

Anandi decided to once again go abroad believing that at least this time around greener pastures awaited her.

Overseas jobs

However, Anandi had moved three times with overseas jobs. Now she returned to the with an unbalanced mind after undergoing many hardships abroad.

Anandi's situation was getting bad to worse and her mental condition was taking a turn for the worse and she began to stray around the village.

There was no one to help her to recover from her confused state of mind. Neighbours took care of the two children. Later little Hanath and his sister and they were handed over by them to their aunty, their mother's youngest sister to be taken care of. She had two children including a five- months- old child.

Household chores

Her husband was a labourer. It was not long before Hanath and his sister had to live under the stress and trauma of the aunt. She had two more mouths to feed and this angered her.

Hanath's sister seldom went to school. She was a backward in school but loved to have a new school bag. She wanted to wear a new pair of shoes.

But she could not get these and she was frustrated. As time passed Hanath's sister ended up being a servant in her aunt's house attending to all the household chores. She worked almost the whole day without a moment of leisure.

Soiled pair of shorts

On that fateful day the little boy could not comprehend what was happening in the house when suddenly his aunt reprimanded him saying "What are you doing without doing your school work and washing you clothes" and the next thing he knew was that boiling water was thrown down his neck.

Hanath could not wash his soiled pair of shorts and this had riled his aunt and she could not control her temper. A pot of water was boiling in the open hearth nearby.

She just took it off the fire and threw the contents at the little boy. Hanath did not now what happened to him .He was bewildered and he began screaming in pain as the boiling water seared through his skin.

He fell down in a faint. The little boy began to cry but there was no one to console him at that time and he had to suffer the pain of the burns.

Meanwhile, his mother who was of unsound mind one day suddenly rushed into her sister's house to see her son and daughter.

Even in her unstable state of mind she realised that something untoward had happened to her beloved son and decided that she could not keep the children with her sister anymore. She took her children and went to her mother's house. After handing them over to her mother she left.

Hanath's grandmother was an employee in a coir factory in Alawathugoda. When she went to work in the factory she took her grandson with her because she did not want him to be left alone at home because she suspected that something untoward had happened to her grandson but did not make any inquiries from her daughter because of her daughter's state of mind. The other employees in the coir factory observed the child's strange behaviour and they inquired from the victim what had happened to him and he told them the whole story. They sympathised with the boy but knew that some action had to be taken and that the boy must be hospitalised.

Alawathugoda police

They informed the Alawathugoda police about the child. Hanath and his grandmother were summoned by the OIC of Alawathugoda police IP, Nishantha Hettiarachchi.

After making inquiries the OIC came to know that the child was harassed by his mother's younger sister on several occasions even before she poured boiling water on him on the last occasion. The OIC apprehended the suspect with her five-month-old child and produced her before the Kandy magistrate.

The victim was admitted to a government hospital in Akurana. Hanath's sister was handed over to the child probation unit in Kandy.