On Monday (5th June), a video showing an elderly woman physically abusing a young girl went viral on social media, especially WhatsApp.
Yesterday evening (Tuesday, 6th June), news reports confirmed that the abuser was arrested at her home in Puchong Perdana. The 60-year-old woman is being remanded for 7 days and is under investigation for section 31(1) (a) Children Act 2001.
It was reported that the 6-year-old girl had spilled her food from her plate, causing her babysitter to lose her temper. In the almost 3 minutes clip, the woman can be seen mercilessly beating the child with a wooden stick while shouting at her in Tamil for “not knowing how to eat”.
Even as the poor kid shrieked in agony, the woman continued to violently slapped and kicked the child. A dog can also be spotted in the video, appearing to be visibly upset over the cruel treatment.
Although the identity of the individual responsible for recording the incident is not known, the woman can be heard challenging the person. “Since you are recording, well, let’s see if you’re going to give it to the newspapers,” she said.
Not long after the child abuse video went viral online, several netizens filed a complaint against the woman. Subang Jaya district police chief ACP Mohammad Azlin Sadari confirmed the arrest, stating that the young victim has been rescued and the suspect had been apprehended.
Facebook page, We Are Malaysian Indians, also released an update on the situation. “Finally the Indian child was saved. Our people act fast and managed to find that lady and hand her over to the police. The child (has been) taken to a hospital for further check up. Thank you to the public for reacting fast to the situation,” reads the Facebook post.
Here is the video if you can stomach it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDYTPRWzajw
Sources: Astro Awani, Free Malaysia Today, MalaysiaKini.
