Sprawled across the scrubbed linen in the general ward, he behaves like any three-year-old, except he has a clutch of tubes between his legs -- a dead give-away to the brutal attack.

``He is stable now. An operation has been conducted and we were able to place the organ in its place. Arun has now been shifted from the ICU to the general ward,'' said Dr Sarojini, the Medical Superintendent of Noida Medical Centre where Arun has been admitted for the past 72 days.

Sitting beside his son, Jay Prakash cajoles his son into revealing what occurred on that fateful day. ``He has just started talking but does not remember what happened on Sunday. All that he is able to recall is his visit with his brother and sisters to a place near his house to catch a glimpse of a tractor that had got stuck in the mud,'' Jay Prakash says.

Looking curiously at thepopping flashbulb, Arun blinks his swollen eyes and then folds his bandaged arms around them. Doctors treating him have wrapped his forearms with bandages to prevent him from plucking out the tubes.``He is rather quiet except when I have to leave his side to attend to some work. Then he begins to wail out loud, crying out for his mother,'' says Jay Prakash.

Jay Prakash, a chowkidar at the Tehsil in Dadri, lives in a small government quarter with his wife and six children. He had three daughters followed by the three sons. Arun is the fifth.

On Sunday Jayprakash was away with his brother Harkishen to a jagran. Arun who had just been given a bath by his mother, decided to go out with his siblings to see a tractor struck close by. On his way back he was picked up by someone, taken to the terrace of a single-storeyed flat and castrated. The perpetrators also poured some chemical in his eyes.

The police are unable to trace the perpetrators or their find motives. Sub-Inpector Sheela Chowdhury, who isinvestigating the case, says: ``We have detained a few persons and are also questioning some others, but no significant breakthrough has been made. The family has ruled out personal enmity as the reason and dissuades us from interrogating neighbours.''

The only strands of evidence are the pink bangles that have reportedly been picked up from the spot. The police are also investigating into the possible involvement of eunuchs who reside nearby.