Over two months after a 10-year-old died under mysterious circumstances in Kerala’s Kollam district, the police have finally taken some action. They have now taken into custody several of the girl’s relatives, including her mother, maternal grandfather and her uncle.
The girl was found hanging from the window of her house on January 15. The post mortem report first brought out by Manorama News indicated that the girl was subjected to sexual assault as she had over 22 injuries on her legs, thighs and in her genital area. The report says the death was due to hanging.
Though the autopsy report doesn’t clearly mention that the child was subjected to sexual abuse, the nature of injuries and wounds indicate a high possibility of assault.
While initial reports claimed that she might have committed suicide, questions have been raised over the plausibility of the young girl killing herself.
A suicide note was found near to the child’s body, which claimed that the problems inside her family led her to commit suicide, and that no one was responsible for the death. But the authenticity of this letter is also being challenged.
For one, the letter was written in the old Malayalam script, that a child of 10 couldn’t possibly have knowledge of, her father says. Children are never taught old letters in schools, proving that the letter must have been written by someone else, he said.
Speaking to The News Minute, he said: “It was not her handwriting, it was written by an adult. A child can never write like that. How will a 10-year-old commit suicide? I am sure that she was killed by my wife’s father and her brother. I know that they have abused her.”
“I had always suspected her mother’s involvement in the case,” he alleged. “She might have known that my daughter was assaulted, and she tried to cover it up, as the accused are her father and brother,” he said.
For over two months, the police have been inactive in the case, and they did not take anyone into custody even after the post-mortem report came out. Though there were clear indications of sexual assault and murder, many people allege that the police did not carry out an investigation.
On Thursday, various political parties and locals carried out protest marches to police station alleging laxity, following which Kundara Circle Inspector R Shabu was suspended by Thiruvananthapuram Range IG Manoj Abraham.
Shabu though claimed that the police was investigating the case properly. “We have been investigating the case. Since the accused were relatives, and the child’s mother was also not cooperating, that is why it took some time. All other allegations against the investigating team are fake,” he told TNM.
Putting the blame on the victim’s mother for not cooperating, Kollam rural SP Surendran told media on Wednesday that a special 10 member team has been constituted for the investigation and that the case will be cracked soon. He said that the victim’s mother had even threatened police to commit suicide if they questioned her more.
The story was first broken by Manorama News TV's Deepu Revathy, who consistently followed the story and forced police action.