can a mother be cruel?? - Page 2

Four-year-old Dhruta, who was admitted to Thane civil hospital after she was brutally beaten and burnt by her stepmother, Vaishali Jadhav on Jan 17, now has only her neighbours to turn to. In fact, it was a neighbour Arun Amdekar who admitted Dhruta to the hospital on Tues. Dhruta lives in Vijay Park building on Ghodbunder Road with her father, stepmother and stepsister.

Neighbours fight for custody

Neighbours horrified by Dhruta's condition (besides the burns, her arm has been fractured), are attending to Dhruta at the hospital and have also vowed to fight for her custody once she leaves the hospital.

Says a neighbour Kavita Koyande, "Dhruta cannot be left with these inhuman people. I am ready to take care of her. She is such a sweet girl, how can they beat her?"

Another neighbour Rahul Gupte says, "The girl has been so badly beaten up that that her body is swollen. We are not going to leave Dhruta alone in the hospital as we fear that her folks will kill her. When this girl was undergoing treatment, her father was not present. I don't think he should be allowed to meet her again." He adds, "We are going to try our level best to fight for the custody of this girl." 

'Dhruta's brother missing since Oct'

Meanwhile, Dhruta's elder brother Tanmay Kurlekar (11), who was also being tortured by the stepmother, is no longer on the scene. While neighbours suspect something amiss, Dhruta's father, Manoj Kurlekar, who has otherwise kept mum on the entire issue, says that he is in some boarding school in Bhiwandi.

He refused to give any further details. Says Arun Amdekar, "The stepmother also tortured Dhurta's elder brother in the same manner. Once she burned his foot by pouring hot oil on it. She now says that she has sent Tanmay to a boarding school in Bhiwandi but we don't believe her. We are going to look for the boy."

Dhruta was being tortured for months

Says Vaishali Amdekar, Arun's wife, "This is not the first instance of Dhruta being beaten up. This has been happening for two to three months now. The woman used to beat the little girl almost everyday for some reason or the other. We could not do anything when we heard the poor girl screaming because her stepmother used to lock the door and beat the girl. But on Jan 17 the situation got out of hand and we thought she would kill Dhruta so my husband called the police."

When metro spoke to Dhruta about what happened on Jan 17, she says, "My mother banged my head on the wall." She also added that on several occasions her stepmother hit her with frying pans and brooms and bathed her in freezing cold water. Dhurta also has burn marks on her leg and palm of her hand. Now she cannot stand on her feet as her legs hurt a lot.
Stepmother had thrown Dhruta's photos away

Asmita Lotankar, a neighbour, says "This woman had thrown all of Dhruta's current and old photographs in the garbage bin. The watchman found them and gave me the photographs. I really wonder what she was up to. I really hope her brother Tanmay is safe."

Lotankar also suspects that Dhruta's stepmother is not really married to her father as she still uses her ex-husband's name (Vasant Jadhav). When metro asked Kurlekar about his earlier wife he refused to reply. Neighbours claim that she had killed herself.