India, April 9 -- Nine days after he was brutally assaulted by a neighbour, four-year-old Vignesh Kondhare returned to his Vasai home from a hospital on Wednesday evening, a moment his family had feared might never come.

The March 30 assault, captured on CCTV, showed the accused, Sandeep Pawar, dragging the child out of a parked autorickshaw by his legs, swinging him in the air and repeatedly slamming him onto the ground, before dragging him up a flight of stairs. Police said Pawar attacked the boy to settle a grudge with his father over a financial dispute dating back two years.

Vignesh's parents called his survival a "miracle". "These last few days were hell for us. I am just thanking my stars to see him alive," said his mother, Sushm...