Kochi: Telltale signs of a dysfunctional family and possible psychological issues have emerged as reasons which led to the alleged murder of a three-year-old girl in Moozhikulam near Nedumbassery in Ernakulam district.

The Nedumbassery police have booked the child's mother after the girl’s body was found from the Chalakudy river by 2.30 am on Tuesday after a search that lasted for hours. The woman has been in police custody ever since the missing case was reported. She became a suspect after she reached her home at Kurumassery near Moozhikulam alone by 7 pm on Monday. She had left for her home from her husband’s house at Thiruvankulam near Chottanikkara with her daughter.

The public reactions of the relatives of the deceased girl on Tuesday morning have revealed evident issues in the accused woman’s family life. The accused's husband has blamed the woman of ill-treating their children on previous occasions while the accused's mother said her daughter had complained of domestic violence by Subhash. She also said that son-in-law was an alcoholic.

The accused's husband even accused her of trying to poison their two children. The child's elder brother said that his mother had beaten him and his sister with a torch once; a charge his father also made. The blame game played out in front of the media exposed the cracks in the marital relationship. The shocking news of the three-year-old girl’s death also sparked questions about the mental health of the accused woman, though the police have not confirmed anything in this regard.

The accused's mother said that she used to have anger issues and that she was taken for counselling after her husband’s family insisted that they would let her stay with them only after getting a medical clearance. “We took her to a private hospital in Angamaly and the doctor said there was nothing wrong with her. The doctor said though she is 35, she has the intelligence of only an 18-year-old,” she told TV channels.

While it is not clear if the doctor mentioned any clinical term, a consultant psychiatrist explained to Onmanorama that the anomaly in the physical age and mental age pointed out by the medical professional who examined the accused could indicate a condition known as borderline intellectual functioning, previously called borderline mental retardation. “Those with such a condition do not show any direct symptoms. But such people may face issues in relationships. Difficulty to learn, inability to solve problems and overreaction are among the other symptoms,” Dr U Vivek said. He also pointed out conditions like Impulse Control Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder and a prolonged postpartum depression causing unbearable stress leading to actions without thinking about consequences.