Picture used for illustrative purpose only.

Every now and then we come across reports of utterly callous parents meting out inhuman treatment to their children. In October 2020, an Iraqi woman threw her two children from a bridge on the Tigris river in Baghdad. This was just because she had a fight with her divorced husband.

A study by Unicef the same year shows there are 30 different forms of physical and verbal abuse that parents in India use on their children as young as 0 to 6 years as part of efforts to discipline them.

The cases are just not confined to one country or  geographical area. In a recent shocking case, a mother dropped her three-year-old daughter into a bear enclosure at a zoo in Uzbekistan. She has been charged with attempted murder.

According to a report in a section of the Indian media, the mother dangling her child over the railings before dropping her down in Tashkent Zoo. Utterly alarmed and panic-stricken spectators watched helplessly as the child landed in a trench about 16 feet below, right into the brown bear's lair. 

The bear, named Zuzu, had been circling its enclosure. Call it a miracle or the girl’s stroke of good fortune, the bear did not attack or maul her to death. It just sniffed her. 

Meanwhile, zookeepers quickly got into the act. They managed to veer the animal away from the girl towards an indoor part of the enclosure.

Six zookeepers entered the enclosure, one of them picked up the girl and carried her to safety. The mother has been detained