
A woman and her six children, who were rescued from her abusive husband from a street near Kaithamukku in Thiruvananthapuram in December 2019, have now been given a house by the Corporation.
The incident drew a lot of attention at the time with the allegation that one child was seen eating mud out of hunger. This had later proved false after the Child Welfare Commission interviewed the mother.
The six children are aged seven, five, four, three, one-and-a-half years and three months old respectively. When rumours of a child eating mud reached the Kerala State Council for Child Welfare (KSCCW), help was sent to the family. The District Child Protection Unit (DCPU) was also called in. The family was undoubtedly living in bad conditions, they found out. Their hut was made of flex sheets and the place was full of flies. But on talking to the family, the officials learnt that it was the younger child — aged one and a half years — that put mud in its mouth, apparently playfully, and not out of hunger.
But during the investigations, the mother revealed that the husband was an alcoholic and beat up the children when he was drunk. The woman wanted to escape from years of domestic abuse. The DCPU took them away to safer places — four kids were initially placed under the KSCCW while the mother and the younger ones were put under the care of the Government Mahila Mandiram. They were all later moved to Dale View, a shelter home for victims of domestic violence in Thiruvananthapuram.
At the time, Corporation Mayor K Sreekumar had promised a job for the mother and a house for the family. A press release sent by the Mayor’s office says that both these have now been fulfilled. The mother is working at the Corporation, while the family is being handed over a flat at Kalladimugham Colony. Minister Kadakampally Surendran handed over the key on March 2.
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