Thiruvananthapuram (The Hawk): A 20-year-old man was detained on Friday in Thalassery, Kannur district, Kerala, for kicking a six-year-old child for leaning on his illegally parked automobile.
After a video of the event went popular on social media, police took action.
Mohammed Shehzad is a young man from a wealthy family in the Kannur district. The toddler is the son of a balloon-selling Rajasthani couple who recently moved to the district as the temple festival season began.
The police were criticised after failing to arrest Shehzad, who had arrived at the local police station on Thursday night.
A young attorney who was an eyewitness to the incident that occurred on Thursday was the first to report the occurrence to the police.
The child was transferred to the local hospital for treatment, where he is now being treated, before the police arrived.
In the meantime, the police, after studying the CCTV images, traced the automobile and contacted Shehzad, asking him to report to the police station. Shehzad did arrive to the station, but at 11 p.m. he was let to go while his vehicle was held at the station.
The police arrested Shehzad on Friday morning, after local television stations had broadcast the incident.
Nithin, the Additional SP of Thalassery, told the reporters that Shehzad's arrest will soon be registered and that he will be charged with IPC 308, a non-bailable offence.
Nithin continued to assert that there was no lapse on the part of the police, despite being asked numerous times why the accused was permitted to depart on Thursday night and why he was charged with non-bailable crimes on Friday.
State Education Minister V. Sivankutty remarked on Facebook that this was something that should not have occurred and that stern punishment was necessary.
(Inputs from Agencies)
