It's been 2 days since a 7-year-old boy from Thodupuzha in Kerala who was brutally beaten up by his mother's partner breathed his last. The child was on life support and had batted for his life for 9 days before passing away at the Kolenchery Medical College on Saturday.
The victim's younger brother, his mother and maternal grandmother have now been shifted to a Kudumbashree centre in Idukki. The mother, whose partner had battered her older son to death, is undergoing counselling at the centre. The police are also concerned as the mother has made contradictory statements to the police, at first suggesting that her son had been injured in an accident.
"The child is in the custody of the grandmother. Both of them are staying at the Kudumbashree centre. The mother is also in the centre as we did not want her to be alone in the house. She is being counselled and monitored by the staff at the centre," Joseph Augustine, Chairman of CWC Idukki, told TNM.
Meanwhile, the boy's paternal grandfather, Babu, has approached the Thiruvananthapuram CWC to secure custody of the young one. Babu, whose son Biju is the father of the children, had passed away a few years ago. The Idukki Child Welfare Committee have asked reports from the Thiruvananthapuram CWC on whether there are adequate facilities in the paternal grandfather's house to raise the child. Following this report, the CWC will consider Babu's request.
Based on the reports by the Kudumbashree counsellor, Idukki police will decide if a case should be registered against the mother of the children for the death of the 7-year-old boy. Witness accounts from Chazhikattu hospital, where the 7-year-old was first taken to, state that the accused - Arun Anand, and the mother had offered contradicting versions of how the child was hurt. CCTV footage from the hospital also showed the accused delaying the treatment of the child by arguing with doctors and staff, this while the mother made phone calls and had conversations with the accused.
The accused Arun Anand was the partner of the children's mother. On March 28, the victim, the accused and the mother arrived at the hospital for treatment and were finally moved to the Kolenchery Medical College hospital where the boy passed away.
What brought the case to light was the victim's 4-year-old brother revealing that it was their mother's partner who had brutally assaulted his brother, resulting in a skull fracture and brain bleeding. The mother had initially lied stating that the victim had had an accident. Following police questioning, she too confirmed that the boy was assaulted by her partner.