Mother, Partner Arrested After Kerala Toddler’s Death Reveals Abuse Allegations
Investigation reveals prolonged abuse preceding toddler’s death.
A one-and-a-half-year-old toddler was beaten to death by his mother’s live-in partner in a case of prolonged torture that has shocked the Panavoor area in Nedumangad, about 20 kilometres from Thiruvananthapuram.
The child, identified as Arshid, was rushed to a private hospital in Panavoor on the evening of May 29 and later shifted to Sree Avittom Thirunal Hospital, where doctors declared him dead. His mother’s partner, Ashkar, initially claimed the toddler had choked on food and fallen unconscious. However, relatives raised suspicions, prompting a police investigation.
A post-mortem examination revealed that the cause of death was internal bleeding resulting from severe beatings, with the child’s body bearing 51 wounds, including a deep injury to his genitals and multiple cigarette burn marks on his legs.
Police arrested 21-year-old Akhila, the child’s mother, and her live-in partner Ashkar on the night of May 30. Both were produced before a court and remanded in judicial custody. During a crime scene reconstruction at their house on Monday, investigators recovered the stick used to assault the child and the lighter used to inflict burns.
Ashkar reportedly confessed that he had planned to kill Arshid three months earlier and had been subjecting the toddler to regular physical abuse for the past month, viewing him as an obstacle to his relationship with Akhila.
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On the day of the murder, when Arshid cried loudly, Ashkar struck him on the head. After confirming the child’s death, he cleaned the house, destroyed evidence, and then took the body to the hospital. In the preceding weeks, Ashkar had allegedly stuffed cloth into the child’s mouth to silence his screams and later disposed of several objects used in the assaults by throwing them into a nearby canal.
About a month before the killing, Arshid suffered broken arms, which Ashkar and Akhila claimed resulted from a fall from a bicycle. Akhila had even posted a photograph of the injured child on her WhatsApp status. The abandoned plaster cast from his arms was later recovered from the house compound during evidence collection on June 1. On May 16, the child, with both arms in plaster, was seen with his mother meeting a social media content creator at a bus stand.
Akhila reportedly admitted to police that she was aware of the repeated torture inflicted by Ashkar but did not intervene to protect her son. The case has sparked outrage over the failure to safeguard the child despite visible signs of abuse in the weeks leading up to his death.
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