Dubai: An Indian national and his wife have been charged at a court in Dubai with physically assaulting the man's mother, causing her bone and rib fractures, internal bleeding and starving her to death.

The Court of First Instance was informed that the 29-year-old man and his 28-year-old wife tortured the elderly woman repeatedly. They even cut her right eye iris out and part of her other eye, the Khaleej Times reported on Wednesday.

The torture is believed to have lasted from July 2018 till October 2018. A case was registered at Al Qusais police station.

The couple denied the charge. However, they have been detained.

The case was brought to light by the couple's neighbour, who is a hospital employee.

The 54-year-old Indian witness recounted how the wife visited her at her apartment in the same building.

"She was then holding her daughter. She claimed that her mother-in-law had come from India but did not take proper care of their daughter and that the girl would often fall sick while in her care. She wanted me to look after the girl until she came back from work," the witness was quoted as saying by the paper.

About three days later, the witness spotted an elderly woman lying down in her neighbours' balcony. "That woman was almost naked with apparent burn marks on her body. I informed the security guard."

The witness then knocked on the couple's door.

"I found his mother on the floor. Her clothes were sticking to her body and she obviously was in a critical condition and needed urgent medical treatment. I called the ambulance."

The witness recalled how the mother cried and screamed of pain when the paramedics tried to carry her because of the burns she had. "The defendant remained in the flat and did not go with his mother. I told the paramedics he should go along. He went later after they talked him into it."

A Filipino paramedic, 36, recalled how he found the victim in a very bad shape in her son's flat.

"She was in awful pain. Her hands and legs were swollen and her legs bore burn marks. Her son claimed she had poured hot water on herself when we asked him about the cause of the burn injuries. He was standing far from her, apparently indifferent about her condition."

The paramedic added that the son did not help carry his mother to the ambulance while the neighbours, who were around, stepped in to help.

The forensic doctor told the prosecutor that the mother weighed just 29kg at the time of her death.

"She was tortured repeatedly over a short span of time. Burns covered 10 per cent of her body. The bone and rib fractures, internal bleeding, beating with different tools, burns, negligence and starvation have all led to the deterioration of her health condition."

A hospital certificate showed the mother died on October 31, 2018.

The trial will continue on July 3.

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Cuttack (PTI): Hardik Pandya made a memorable comeback to competitive cricket, striking a mood-lifting unbeaten fifty and then took a key wicket as India etched a dominant 101-run win over South Africa in the opening match of the five-match series here on Tuesday.

The victory helped India take a 1-0 lead in the rubber and it also pushed South Africa to their lowest-ever T20I total. Their previous lowest was also against India -- 87 all out in Rajkot in 2022.

India had been pushed onto the back-foot after SA asked them to bat first on a tacky red-soil surface, but Pandya’s commanding 59 not out off 28 balls rescued them from early turbulence. India posted a competitive 175/6.

On a pitch that demanded discipline, South Africa showed none, to be all out for a mere 74 in 12.3 overs, as the hosts’ bowlers ran through them with relentless accuracy.

Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy and Axar Patel grabbed two wickets each, while Pandya fittingly chipped in with the prized scalp of David Miller.

 

It was also South Africa’s first defeat in three T20Is in Cuttack, and if India had started shakily, South Africa began disastrously.

Arshdeep set the tone with a superb away-swinger that kissed past Quinton de Kock’s tentative prod for a two-ball duck.

In his next over, Arshdeep produced another beauty -- a length ball that jagged back into the in-form Tristan Stubbs (14).

India went upstairs for the review, and UltraEdge confirmed a thick inside edge onto the elbow before Jitesh Sharma completed a sharp take as South Africa were 18/2 inside four overs.

Axar was introduced in the final over of the powerplay and struck immediately.

Aiden Markram, shuffling back to work a skiddy, straight delivery, was beaten on the inside edge to get bowled. At 28/3 in six overs, South Africa were already in a hole.

Pandya then added to their misery, dismissing Miller.

Chakravarthy, operating with sharp drift and deceptive pace, got into action after the powerplay. Donovan Ferreira was late to react to a delivery that held back, and could only nick behind to Jitesh.

Marco Jansen, who had fielded brilliantly earlier, was undone by Chakravarthy’s googly as South Africa slid to 68/6.

The end arrived quickly thereafter with Bumrah cleaning up Dewald Brevis and Keshav Maharaj in the space of four deliveries.

Earlier, coming back after 74 days following a left quadricep injury that forced him out of the Asia Cup, Pandya walked in at No. 6 and immediately changed the tempo of the match.

India had slipped in both the power play and middle overs losing six wickets, but Pandya, who had proved his fitness at the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for Baroda with a 42-ball 77 not out, counter-attacked with clean, fearless hitting to finish en route his sixth T20I fifty.

He began with two towering sixes against Maharaj just after a well-set Tilak Varma (26) fell. Pandya then ripped into Anrich Nortje with a 17-run over, even stepping out to a 149kph thunderbolt to punch it for four.

Jansen tried to rush him with short balls, but Pandya pulled one with vengeance before racing towards fifty that lifted the mood in the stadium.

He struck a six and four off Lutho Sipamla (2/38) in the 19th over, and reached his half-century in 25 balls with a ramped six over third man off Nortje in the final over, celebrating it with a muted raise of the bat.

Pandya's late fireworks helped India add 71 runs in the last six overs.

But on a fresh red-soil surface offering two-paced bounce, India struggled early.

Abhishek Sharma (17), Shubman Gill (4) and Suryakumar Yadav (12) all fell inside seven overs as Lungi Ngidi (3/31) exploited the conditions superbly with clever variations.

He removed Gill early as the batter chipped to Jansen at mid-off, and later had skipper Suryakumar holding out to Markram to have India 17/2.

Abhishek tried to force the pace after the field restrictions lifted, but fell to Sipamla, thanks to a stunning sliding catch by the 2.06m Jansen sprinting across from long leg to fine leg.

His brief stay of 17 off 12 balls ended just as he began to find rhythm with back-to-back boundaries as India soon slipped to 48/3 in 6.3 overs.

Varma looked set while smashing a towering six off Nortje and with two fours in his 32-ball 26 but the Indian innings started to wobble again with him and Axar (23) dismissed by Ngidi and Sipamla respectively.