India, April 2 -- "Only a monster can do such a thing to a child, to take revenge on me. He should be hanged," says 32-year-old Atul Kondhare, of the brutal assault on his four-year-old son in a Vasai housing society on Monday evening.

The child, Vignesh, was yanked out of a parked autorickshaw by its driver, swung in the air, and his head smashed on the ground before he was dragged up a flight of stairs. The driver, Sandeep Pawar, 57, has told the police he assaulted the child to take revenge on his father due to an unresolved financial dispute two years ago.

Vignesh has been admitted to the intensive care unit at Wockhardt Hospital in Mira Road. All Kondhare wants for now is for the child to regain consciousness. On Wednesday, Kondhar...