Custodial dad, step of tortured 7-year-old girl flee; grandparents may get custody (Mumbai, India)

This is such a typical account. ZERO mention of what happened to this girl's mother. Dead? Alive? Who knows? All we know is that the grandparents may be get custody.

And notice that the custodial UNNAMED DAD is not being held accountable in any way, shape, or form for the torture inflicted on this child. Doesn't matter if you're in Mumbai or Milwaukee. It's the same pattern. By contrast, mothers are ROUTINELY charged with neglect or worse when the daddy/stepdaddy/boyfriend beats the kid, and Mom doesn't intervene or get the child to the doctor in a "timely" manner.

INVISIBLE MOTHER ALERT

http://www.ndtv.com/article/cities/father-stepmother-of-tortured-mumbai-girl-flee-grandparents-may-get-custody-173632

Father, stepmother of tortured Mumbai girl flee, grandparents may get custody
NDTV Correspondent, Updated: February 06, 2012 10:34 IST

Mumbai: The grandparents of the seven-year-old girl, who was battered by her stepmother, are expected to arrive in Mumbai this week. The police will decide whether the custody of the girl should be given to her grandparents. Meanwhile many NGOs have come forward to help the child. She is currently battling her trauma at a government- run hospital with her fate still uncertain.

The girl was was cut with a knife and branded with a hot ladle. Her hair was torn out so badly that she has bald patches.

And as she lies in a hospital bed, her alleged abuser is roaming free. Barely 24 hours after she was arrested for inflicting brutal injuries on her seven-year-old stepdaughter, Aarti Thakur, is out on bail. She was charged with grievous assault, for which she has had to pay only Rs. 1000 to secure her bail.

"When the injury is minor and there is no fracture, then it's Section 324," says Vineet Agarwal, Additional Commissioner of Police (Central Region), Mumbai.

The child's father, who brought the child from her grandparents three months ago, apparently to put her in school used her as a house help and turned a blind eye to the abuse. He has not been charged.

The outrage over the shocking incident is shared by residents of this neighbourhood where the family lived.

"If the police had witnessed the injuries she had they would never have given her bail," says one of the family's neighbour.

After the incident came to light, the family has gone into hiding. Neighbours say someone came to the house on Sunday, took some clothes and since then the family has vanished. The police admit they have no idea how and where to find them

"Section 324 is serious assault but with hand. Here they have used ladles so that is like a weapon. Section 307, which is attempt to murder, should have been applied because the child could have died," says legal expert Flavia Agnes.

But, with NGOs coming forward to offer help to the tortured child, there is still hope for a her of a secure future, which has been denied to her till now.