A chargesheet has not been filed in the death of the 18-month-old from Nedumangad in Thiruvananthapuram because there was a delay in receiving the forensic report of the incident, the State informed the Kerala High Court on Wednesday.
A Division Bench of Chief Justice Soumen Sen and Justice V.M. Syam Kumar was considering a suo motu public interest litigation (PIL) taken up to monitor and inquire into the protection of children from severe instances of domestic abuse and the breakdown of child welfare alerts after receiving reports on the death of two children who had succumbed to their injuries after alleged physical abuse.
The court also dismissed a petition by the District Child Protection Officer in the Nedumangad child’s matter to be added as a party to the suo motu petition. The deputation of the officer, who was in charge of overseeing the local Child Helpline, was cancelled by the Department of Women and Child Development.
The one-and-a-half-year-old in Nedumangad had sustained over 90 internal and external injuries. Though the child was brought to hospitals for bone fractures before his death, the systematic trauma was never flagged or reported by treating personnel, according to the petition.
Through the PIL, the court sought to establish strict, binding protocols connecting law enforcement, health-care institutions, and child welfare officers to secure a mandatory-reporting framework for suspected child abuse.
Published – August 05, 2026 07:36 pm IST
