Trigger warning: Mentions of child abuse
Nearly a month before 20-month-old Arshith died of torture in Thiruvananthapuram, the authorities had a crucial opportunity to intervene. His maternal grandmother Reena had tried to alert the Thiruvananthapuram police as well as the District Child Protection Unit (DCPU) about suspected abuse.
In a 16-minute phone conversation with a helpline staff member at the DCPU office on May 3, Reena tried to bring his attention to photographs showing the injuries the child had sustained.
In the recording of the call, Reena can be heard telling the officer, “In the photos, we did not see injuries anywhere else. Only on both his hands… Even if the child fell from a toy vehicle, there should be wounds elsewhere on his body.”
“What exactly is the problem? Are you saying that man harmed the child?” the officer asked with an air of disbelief, referring to the child’s stepfather, Ashkar (31).
“Yes, I have that suspicion,” she said.
This call should have triggered a response from the DCPU, but no one checked on the child.
Arshith died on May 29, after enduring prolonged and repeated abuse at the hands of Ashkar, the partner of his mother Akhila (24). Both Ashkar and Akhila have since been arrested. Investigators allege that while Ashkar subjected the child to sustained violence, Akhila was aware of the abuse and failed to intervene.
Two weeks after the 20-month-old child died with nearly 100 injuries documented on his body, TNM has accessed a recording of the phone conversation that Reena had with the DCPU helpline staff.
Instead of an assurance that her concerns would be immediately looked into, she was met with scepticism and was even told that she could be “imagining things.” The staff member did not even ask Reena to share Arshith’s photograph to independently verify the concerns she was raising.
The dozens of injuries found during Arshith’s post-mortem examination included seven fractured ribs, burn marks, and areas of peeled and damaged skin. The injuries indicated repeated assaults over an extended period. The soles of his feet were burnt, which police say was allegedly done to ‘curb’ him from being hyperactive and running around.
Since Arshith’s death, much of the public outrage has centred on the brutality inflicted by Ashkar and the role of Akhila, who police say failed to protect her child. But the questions surrounding Arshith’s death do not end with the actions of the accused.
In the weeks before he died, Arshith was taken to at least two different hospitals, one of which was a government hospital.
How did a child showing repeated signs of possible abuse pass through hospitals, police, and child protection systems without anyone recognising the danger he was in?
Through interviews with Arshith’s family, police, doctors, and child protection officials, TNM traced the final months of the toddler’s life to understand how he was failed not just by his mother, but also by the institutions meant to protect him.
The warnings that went nowhere
The photograph Reena referred to in her May 3 phone call had arrived on her phone the day before – May 2.
It showed her grandson with both arms encased in plaster casts. Relatives had already begun calling her after seeing the image on WhatsApp statuses posted by Akhila.
“When I saw that photograph of him with both hands fractured, I started connecting the dots. I remembered Ashkar’s threat,” Reena told TNM.
She alleged that less than two months earlier, Ashkar had made a chilling remark while taking the child away. “I will look after him only for a few days, then I will treat him like a rotten dog,” he allegedly said.
Speaking to TNM, Reena said she could not understand how a toddler could fracture both arms in what was being described as a fall from a small three-wheeled cycle. “I examined the photograph carefully. I couldn’t see any other injuries on his body. If he had really fallen, wouldn’t there have been other injuries too, apart from the fractures?” she asked.
Reena is a Nirbhaya volunteer, trained under the Kerala government’s ‘Nirbhaya Keralam Surakshitha Keralam’ scheme on trauma care, first aid, gender issues, equity, counselling, self-defence, and more.
“All these thoughts made me strongly suspect that the child had been assaulted. I couldn’t get it out of my mind,” Reena told us as we met her at her house in Attukal near Nedumangad in Thiruvananthapuram.
That night, after returning from work, she went straight to the Nedumangad police station.
“By 9 pm, I was at the police station. I filed a petition expressing my concerns and seeking custody of my grandson. I wanted them to bring him back to me,” she said.
The following morning, she contacted the District Child Protection Unit in Thiruvananthapuram.
In the recorded conversation, Reena repeatedly told a child protection official that she feared the child was unsafe and suspected he had been harmed. She referred to Ashkar's earlier threat and questioned whether a fall from a small cycle could realistically explain fractures in both arms without any other visible injuries.
Rather than initiating an immediate intervention, the official repeatedly questioned the basis of her concerns. When Reena informed him of Ashkar’s threat, the official asked why the child had been allowed to go with them.
“If he said such things, why did you send the child?” the officer was recorded saying.
In fact, the official repeatedly suggested that her fears may have been speculative.
“These may just be thoughts in your mind,” he said. Later, he added, “That is your thought. It may not be like that. Maybe because you are angry with him you feel that way.”
Reena kept insisting that she feared for the child’s safety. At one point, she said, “I keep wondering, maybe when she was in the kitchen, did he throw him along with the toy vehicle? Did he hit him? I have all these doubts.”
The official retorted, “That is your thought. It may not be like that. Maybe because you are angry with [Ashkar], you feel that way. Maybe the child really did fall by himself. Let us think of both possibilities.”
Eventually, the official advised her to pursue the matter through the police and said Childline could register the child’s details if police action did not follow. “If the child has been harmed, we can act,” the official said.
The official also noted that any decision regarding custody would have to be made by the court and could not be handled directly by the department.
TNM verified that the number Reena called has been publicly listed as a contact number for the DCPU.
When we contacted District Child Protection Officer (DCPO) Suja SJ, she said she was unaware of the phone conversation between the child’s grandmother and the DCPU official, and that she would inquire into the matter. Asked why no welfare visit had been conducted after the complaint, she said officials visited the child “after his death.”
Though we played the conversation for them, the officers on duty were unwilling to identify the person behind the voice. Asked what action would be taken against the official who attended the helpline call, Suja said the matter would be taken up with the Director of Women and Child Development, and that further action would be based on their directions.
“If they had acted then, my grandchild would be alive today,” Reena told TNM.
But it wasn’t just the DCPU. The fractures in both his arms had taken Arshith through two hospitals, including a government hospital in the capital city.
Ashkar initially took the child to the Nedumangad District Hospital. The details are unclear. While the hospital confirmed to TNM that the child was brought to the orthopaedic department, police say the doctor was consulted “in private.”
Since the injury was reported as a fall from a cycle, the doctor applied a plaster and the child was allowed to go with his mother, police say. This visit was most likely in the last week of April. It is unclear if he had other injuries by then, such as the burn marks.
A few days later, when the other arm began to swell, Arshith was taken to SUT Academy of Medical Sciences in Vattappara for further treatment. This hospital also confirmed that the child had been treated there.
However, doctors at neither Nedumangad District Hospital nor SUT Academy reportedly found anything that warranted police intimation.
“The parents said the injuries occurred after the child fell from a bicycle. We received no intimation from the hospitals either,” a police officer at the Nedumangad station told TNM.
For doctors, suspected child abuse is not merely a clinical concern but a medico-legal one. Healthcare professionals can register a medico-legal case whenever injuries raise suspicion of abuse, even if family members do not approach the police.
TNM has reached out to SUT Academy of Medical Sciences seeking clarification on whether doctors observed any additional injuries, whether abuse was considered, and whether the case was evaluated for medico-legal reporting. A response is awaited. This story will be updated if and when we receive a response.
The complaint that was ‘withdrawn’
Though Reena went to the Nedumangad police station on May 2, police say she later withdrew the complaint she filed.
“The parents said the injuries occurred after the child fell from a bicycle. We received no intimation from the hospitals either. The grandmother also withdrew her complaint. That is why we did not proceed further,” a police personnel from Nedumangad police station told TNM.
Reena disputes the implication that her concerns disappeared.
She said she withdrew the complaint only after Akhila filed a counter-complaint before the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP), accusing Reena, the baby’s grandmother, of interfering in her life.
“My mother who is 72-years-old said she would somehow manage to take care of him after seeing what he was going through. So I went back to the station. The police called Ashkar on the phone, but he said there was no problem,” Reena said.
It was soon after this that Akhila filed the counter-complaint alleging harassment by Reena.
“I was heartbroken by what my daughter did and withdrew my complaint. After that, I decided I would never interfere in her life again,” Reena said.
The withdrawal, however, raises another question: Once concerns were raised about possible abuse of an injured toddler, shouldn’t authorities have independently verified the child’s safety, irrespective of a family dispute?
The road to May 29
The concerns raised by Reena did not emerge in a vacuum.
Family members say Ashkar, a driver by profession, had entered Akhila’s life months earlier. Akhila, a dancer, was pregnant with Arshith when her first husband died by suicide.
According to Reena and her mother Sumathi, Ashkar initially promised that he would take care of the child. But they alleged that his behaviour changed after the couple started living together. The family said that tensions grew over property-related issues, and that Ashkar had threatened that he would not care for the child.
In early March, Akhila left Arshith with her family, saying she would return within days and that she had to concentrate on her dance performances. Weeks passed before she came back.
With Reena away at work and Sumathi struggling to care for the toddler due to her age and health issues, Sumathi eventually approached the police asking Akhila to take responsibility for the child.
On April 11, the child left with his mother. And that was the last Reena saw of him.
What the authorities should have done
Swagata Raha, Director of Research at Enfold India, told TNM the DCPU should have acted after the call, irrespective of police action.
“If the grandmother had informed them about suspected abuse, it is the duty of the child helpline to visit the child and enquire. If they see signs of abuse, they should produce the child before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC). In case they are convinced that it was an accident and there is no abuse, they need not escalate it. Either way, it is their duty to visit the child and verify for themselves,” she said.
Two Chennai-based doctors, Dr A Chandiran Joseph and Dr J Amalorpavanathan, wrote recently on The News Minute that doctors and forensic experts are trained to look for warning signs, such as bilateral fractures in a toddler, that warrant a medico-legal investigation.
“There is clear obligation to report when it comes to sexual violence, but none for physical violence. However, doctors have a duty of care towards children and should report any signs of violence or abuse to the police and the CWC,” Swagata said.