Alleged murder of three-year-old by mother in Kerala: Post-mortem report suggests sexual abuse

A dramatic twist emerged in the case of the alleged murder of a three-year-old girl by her mother in Ernakulam, Kerala, as the post-mortem report revealed signs of possible sexual abuse, it is learnt.

The Puthencruz police took into custody a close relative of the child’s father for alleged sexual abuse of the child late on Wednesday night in this connection.

“He remains in our custody, though his arrest remains yet to be recorded. We have already registered a separate case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The post-mortem report indicates sustained sexual abuse,” said the Ernakulam Rural police sources.

The police are likely to get custody of the mother on Thursday.

The dramatic turn of events started when the mother, who was arrested and charged with murder, was being taken to the Aluva Judicial First Class Magistrate Court. District Police Chief (Ernakulam Rural) ordered the police team taking the accused to the court to bring her back as soon as the police received the post-mortem report of the child from the Government Medical College, Kalamassery.

However, the mother did not budge and declined to reveal anything in the ensuing interrogation.

The “unusually animated expression of sorrow” by the man now booked for the POCSO case, when the body of the child was taken to her house before cremation, further fuelled the police’s suspicions. Subsequently, he was taken into custody.

The member of the panchayat ward where the child and the family resided said the man lived in a separate house in the same compound as the child’s family.

The mother picked up the child from the anganwadi and the latter went missing on Monday evening. Later in the day, the mother reached her house near Aluva alone, even as she declined to say anything other than that the child had gone missing along the way.

However, the Chengamanad police took her into custody after CCTV footage emerged of her going towards the Moozhikulam bridge along the Chalakkudy river with the child but returning alone. The body of the child was eventually fished out from the river along the same area on Tuesday around 2.30 p.m., after nearly eight hours of search.