Kerala toddler’s death: Close relative arrested for sexual abuse

KOCHI(Kerala): Kerala police arrested an accused on Thursday under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POSCO) for allegedly sexually abusing a four-year-old girl, who died after her mother threw her into a river in Thiruvankulam, Puthencruz in Ernakulam district early this week.

Puthencruz Deputy SP V T Shajan said, “A tragic incident occurred in these limits last Monday in which a 4-year-old girl child was murdered by her mother. Postmortem findings revealed that this child was sexually abused many times. Accordingly, the District Police chief of Ernakulam Rural constituted a special team. As part of the investigation, the Police team conducted investigation in the area of this child and questioned many witnesses. Finally, the Police team could locate the accused who is a close relative of the deceased child. He was arrested and will be produced before the court today. The investigation is going on.”

#WATCH | Kochi, Kerala: Puthencruz Deputy SP V.T. Shajan says, “A tragic incident occurred in these limits last Monday in which a 4-year-old girl child was murdered by her mother. Postmortem findings revealed that this child was sexually abused many times. Accordingly, the… pic.twitter.com/RO2kJnWloP

— ANI (@ANI) May 22, 2025

The girl went missing from Aluva while travelling with her mother on Monday. She was found dead in the Chalakudy River in the early hours of Tuesday. The deceased, Kalyani, is the daughter of Subhash, a native of Mattakuzhi in Ernakulam District.

A scuba team recovered her body from the river around 2.30 am on Tuesday after hours long search. Police took Kalyani’s mother, Sandhya, into custody on Monday. She allegedly had picked up her daughter from Anganwadi around 4 pm.

BJP leader Priya Prashanth expressed concern for the women in the state, stating, “This week, Kerala has witnessed a horrified incident where a child was killed brutally by her mother. This incident now reveals that the child’s mother was harassed by her maternal relatives and due to mental pressure, she killed her daughter. It is revealed by the police officers that it was a planned murder. The social security of the women has decreased and the women in the middle income group are not feeling secured. This insecurity results in child murders like what happened on Monday.”

“A child in the age of 3 or 4 years, she was sexually harassed by her relative. This was not a single incident. When we see last one year in Kerala, we can go through so many incidents like this,” Prashanth added. (ANI)