An unlikely silly police complaint by a minor boy in Andhra Pradesh against his stepmother for not giving him a white shirt to wear for his friend’s birthday party has serendipitously ensured his safety at her hands.

The 11-year-old boy who is studying in the fifth-standard at a government school and lives in Kothapeta area of Eluru town in the eponymous district got ready for his friend’s birthday party around 11 am on Sunday and was planning to sport a white shirt.

He asked his step mother Lakshmi (38) to give him the shirt which was ready and pressed, said a police official. However, Lakshmi refused to give him the shirt.

Angered by the refusal, the determined boy approached Eluru town police half-naked with just a towel rolled around his waist and complained against her,” a police official told PTI on Monday.

Amused by the boy’s complaint and courage, police further probed about his family’s details to learn that he is living with his father Mallikarjun Rao (40), who ekes out a living working as a labourer, along with his second wife while the boy’s biological mother had died earlier.

Police summoned Lakshmi and ensured that she gave him the shirt but further questioning revealed that Lakshmi had ill-treated the boy earlier, including burning him with a heated rod.

According to police, the stepmother had beaten the boy so badly earlier that he had to be admitted in a hospital and also underwent treatment for burns on his legs inflicted by Lakshmi.

Considering this history of child cruelty, police sternly warned Lakshmi not to repeat such behaviour and also took a written undertaking from her that she would not harm the boy again.

Police made Lakshmi vow in the presence of family elders that she would refrain from this kind of treatment, and this ended up securing the future of the boy serendipitously.

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