Coimbatore:
In a case of child abuse, a four-year-old girl has been tortured by her father and stepmother at nearby Tirupur, police said.
The girl has now been rescued and admitted to the district headquarters hospital at Tirupur with severe facial injuries while the duo has fled from the town, they said.
Police said they acted on a complaint by Non-Governmental Organisation, Social Awareness and Volunatry Education (SAVE), which lodged a complaint after neighbours alerted 'childline', which in turn informed the Non-Governmental Organisation about the torture the child was being subjected to.
Quoting the girl, police said the stepmother used to rub her face to a working wet grinding stone. The woman also used to insert a piece of broomstick into her nostrils when she was asleep early in the morning and brand her with a hot iron rod on her palms and legs.
Based on her oral statement, police formed two teams to trace the woman and the father, a bus conductor, they said. The girl's mother, who left her husband some years ago has been informed about the incident, they said.