The 3-year-old boy who was grievously injured following alleged parental torture died at the private hospital at Aluva where he was undergoing treatment on Friday at 9.05 a.m.
He was admitted to the hospital with head injury and severe internal bleeding on Wednesday. Eloor police had arrested his 28-year-old mother from Jharkhand on Thursday after she reportedly confessed to torturing the child.
She was slapped with charges including attempted murder under 307 IPC and cruelty to child under the Juvenile Justice (care and protection of children) Act.
“We will now alter the section from IPC 307 to IPC 302 for murder. We have also sent a team to Jharkhand to verify the parents' whereabouts,” District Police Chief (Kochi City) S. Surendran told The Hindu .
The husband of the accused is being interrogated in police custody. A decision on whether to arraign him as accused will be taken after further investigation, said the police chief.
Unresponsive to treatment
Hospital sources said that there was no change in the child's condition and he remained unresponsive to treatment after a neurosurgery that lasted for three hours on Wednesday. The child was on ventilator support, and was administered with anti-oedema measures and supportive treatment in the ICU till his death was confirmed on Friday.
According to police, the mother had confessed that she used to inflict burn injuries on the child when he disobeyed her. However, she claimed that the head injury was caused by a fall from a concrete slab in the kitchen of their house in Eloor. Police, however, found her statement inconsistent. They are likely to add IPC section 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 326 (causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means) to the FIR.
The hospital report had stated that as per the boy’s father, the child had fallen from an 8-feet high staircase and had become unconscious immediately. However, the hospital found the child’s injuries inconsistent with the history provided by the father and alerted the police and childline.
