Photo Shows Baby with Facial Injuries
Court Issues Temporary Restraining Order
A woman in her 30s, the biological mother who posted photos on a social networking service (SNS) that raised suspicions of abusing her son who was less than three months old, has been booked by the police.
According to a report by Yonhap News on the 26th, the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency’s Women and Juvenile Crime Investigation Unit plans to book and question a woman in her 30s, identified only by her surname A, on suspicion of child abuse under the Child Welfare Act. According to the police, a netizen recently called the emergency number 112 to report suspected abuse after seeing on SNS a photo of a baby with facial injuries and another photo that appeared to show the baby being fed Tteokguk. The police then visited A’s home and, after booking her, determined that there was a need to investigate whether abuse had occurred.
Photo of a bowl of rice cake soup believed to have been fed to a baby. Screenshot from a social networking service (SNS).
A is suspected of abusing or neglecting her son B, who is less than three months old. She recently uploaded to SNS a photo of B with injuries on his face, along with the caption, “XXXX (the name of a famous singer), why are you scratching the precious face of my child, seriously XXXX (expletive).” She also posted a photo that is believed to show B being fed Tteokguk. Netizens who saw this left a series of comments expressing concern about B’s health, such as, “You must not even give Tteokguk broth to such a young baby,” and “At this age, he should only be fed formula.”
The Seobu Police Station in Incheon, which initially began investigating the case, transferred it to the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency, as cases involving children below a certain age are handled by the metropolitan agency. The Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency will conduct further investigations.
The Incheon Family Court, responding to a police request, also issued a temporary order stating that A is “prohibited from approaching within 100 meters of B until April 20.” However, in protest, A reposted the full text of the temporary order on SNS and claimed, “Is this legal document even real? Why does the handwriting look so weak?” and “Why is it that everything makes me resent public authority like this?”
A police official said, “We first took measures to separate A from the child and plan to conduct an investigation now that she has been booked,” adding, “We plan to comprehensively investigate whether there were any acts of physical abuse or neglect.”
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
