StatesKeralam
Two-year-old found dead in Alappuzha home; police suspect malnutrition
Doctors described the boy as acutely anaemic. He weighed 7.6 kg, against about 12 kg expected at his age, and the child welfare committee has taken his siblings into care.
Key points
- The boy weighed 7.6 kg, against a normal weight of close to 12 kg for his age.
- Police have registered a case of unnatural death.
- A histopathology test will establish whether illness or malnutrition caused the death.
A two-year-old boy was found dead at his home in Keralam’s Alappuzha district on Sunday morning, and police suspect malnutrition.
Doctors described the child as “acutely anaemic”, an officer at Trikkunnapuzha police station said. The boy weighed 7.6 kg, when a child of his age would normally weigh close to 12 kg. Police have registered a case of unnatural death, and a histopathology test will decide whether illness or malnutrition killed him. Any further action depends on that result.
The family lives in Karthikappally. The father, an autorickshaw driver, was at home with the children because the mother had been admitted to the government medical college hospital at Vandanam on Saturday to give birth. He found the boy dead on Sunday morning. The couple have five other children, including the newborn, and an earlier child of the family had also died.
The authorities had previously moved the family to Gandhibhavan, a shelter home, because of their poor living conditions, but the officer said the family “created problems there” and went back home.
The child welfare committee has taken the remaining children into its care.