It has only been three weeks since the body of a seven-year-old boy in Idukki was buried after he succumbed to the injuries inflicted by his mother’s partner. On Thursday, a similar suspected case of violence against a child has been reported in Aluva in Ernakulam district.
On Wednesday, a three-year-old boy was admitted to the Rajagiri Hospital in Kochi with several injury marks on his body. He was brought to the hospital around 4 pm on Wednesday.
“The boy has received severe injuries to his head. We performed the surgery on Wednesday, but he continues to be critical and is on ventilator. The child is comatose, without any resopnse to painful stimulus. His pupils are dilating and non reacting. He continues to have spontanoeus breathing movements,” an official at the hospital told TNM.
The father of the boy, along with another person, had first taken the boy to Najath hospital in Aluva. Seeing the boy unconscious and the injuries on his body, a person at the hospital immediately alerted the Ernakulam Childline on their helpline number, 1098.
Speaking to TNM, a coordinator with the Childline said, “Considering how serious the boy was, the hospital authorities asked the father and the bystander to take him to another hospital. At Rajagiri hospital, the father claimed that his son fell from the staircase and sustained injuries. However, the marks on his body did not match with the incident the father described.”
Suspecting that it is a case of child abuse, the hospital administration contacted the police on Wednesday evening. Meanwhile, the doctors at the hospital are continuing with the boy’s treatment.
“The child has several injury marks on his body, including burn marks on his back. The doctors suspect the marks are the result of beatings,” the hospital official said.
According to the Childline and the Eloor police, which is investigating the case, the boy’s parents are immigrants from Jharkhand. The family resides in Kalamassery in Ernakulam and the father works at a construction site.
The police have taken the parents from the hospital to the police station for interrogation.
While the police has not confirmed any details to TNM, a press release from the office of Minister of Health and Social Welfare of Kerala KK Shylaja said that a case has been registered against the parents for attempt to murder.
KK Shylaja also announced said that the Health and Social Welfare department will bear all expenses for the treatment of the three-year-old. “Since the child is critical, he cannot be shifted to another hospital," she said in the press release.