The Hindu : `Missing girl may have drowned'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jun 28, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram

`Missing girl may have drowned'

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM June 27. The rural police suspect that the six-year-old girl, Jincy, whose body was found floating in the sea near Vizhinjam on Thursday morning, had died due to drowning.

Jincy was reported missing from her house in the wee hours of Monday. It was alleged that she was smuggled away while sleeping with her parents inside her hut at Puthukurichi in Kadhinamkulam police station limits.

Official sources said that the team of doctors who conducted a post-mortem examination on the child's body found no evidence pointing to sexual assault or rape. A small contusion was seen on the upper lip of the girl.

Sources said that child's body was found without any garments. It is possible that the skirt she wore was washed away in the waves. The ear-rings on her were in place. Officials pointed out that the girl's hut was just 40 feet away from the sea. The tidal activity on the night she was reported missing was very high. It was revealed in the post-mortem report that the child had died four hours after consuming her dinner.

Her family has reportedly told the police that Jincy had dinner at 7.30 p.m. on Monday. It is suspected that the girl drowned at around 11.30 p.m. Sources said the girl had been discovered a few weeks earlier sleeping outside her house by her parents. Police have discounted the initial version that somebody had kidnapped the girl in her sleep.

``The child was sleeping huddled with her parents and brother in a small room of the hutment. Such an act is impossible in the given circumstances. We are verifying whether the family had enemies. There is also the remote possibility that somebody could have hurled the child into the sea,'' an official said.

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`Missing girl may have drowned'