A two-year-old boy died in a suspected case of malnutrition in the Alappuzha district of Keralam, officials said on Monday, with the Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights registering a case. The Child Welfare Committee has meanwhile taken the couple’s four children under its care amid allegations of parental neglect.
“The autopsy report stated that the child was severely anaemic. He also weighed only 7.6 kg, significantly less than the average 12 kg expected for a child of his age.
A senior inspector in Thrikkunnapuzha police station, where a case for unnatural death was registered, said a postmortem examination was conducted in Alappuzha following suspicions of negligence. These findings indicate that he was not getting adequate nutritious food,” the officer said, adding that a histopathology test was conducted to identify the exact cause of death and the report is awaited.
Somehow, it was the responsibility of the elder children to feed their younger brother.”
Home minister Ramesh Chennithala said that the family is from his constituency and the matter has come to his notice. A local ASHA worker said, “The mother would buy a packet of milk, add water to it and give a glass to the elder children, asking them to feed the two-year-old.
Minister for women and child development Bindhu Krishna termed the death “extremely painful. Because the W&C department has intervened multiple times to ensure better care of the children, “It is particularly painful.
We even shifted them to a shelter home….,” she said. The official also said that the parents refused to send their children to school and neglected them.
The two-year-old, found unresponsive by his father early Sunday at their home, was declared dead at a government hospital in Haripad.
Another child of the couple had also died a few years ago, officials said, though no clear reasons were attributed to that death. CWC officials have taken the couple’s four children into their care while the mother, who delivered her seventh child last week, remains in a hospital with the newborn, officials said.
