Minister Bindhu Krishna blames police inaction for toddler's death in Nedumangad

Minister for Women and Child Development Bindhu Krishna on Monday was highly critical of the Nedumangad police for what she termed its "indifference" to the repeated complaints against Ashkar, the man accused of sustained and merciless torture that led to the death of a one-and-a-half-year-old boy Arshith. 

The minister said that a report on the police inaction would be submitted to Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala. "Stringent penal action would be taken against the police officers who refused to act on these complaints," Bindu Krishna told reporters after visiting Amina, the estranged wife of Ashkar and a victim of his mindless cruelty, at the rehabilitation centre in which she is recuperating. 

The child Arshith, who died on May 29, was the son of Akhila Chandran, the woman with whom Ashkar had a live-in relationship. The boy's father, Akhil, had died by suicide two years ago.

Amina is in the rehabilitation centre near the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College, gradually recovering from the physical and mental destruction caused by Ashkar's brutalities. 

The post-mortem report of the toddler said there were 51 violence-inflicted wounds on the boy's body. There were burns on his feet caused by both lighter flames and cigarette stubs, blade wounds, contusions on his chest, and injuries on his private parts. And both the arms of the boy were fractured. 

Though he initially said that the boy had fallen from a bicycle, police sources said that Ashkar had admitted to inflicting enormous pain on the child in a sustained way, even banging the boy's head on the wall. The internal bleeding inside the boy's head, which eventually caused his death, could have been the result of this head trauma. 

Police sources said that Ashkar wanted to get rid of the boy so that he could have a more convenient life with Akhila, who, the police say, was aware of the savagery Ashkar was subjecting her child to.  

Ashkar and Amina had been separated for over two years. Minister Bindu hinted that Arshith would not have been killed had the Nedumangad police taken Amina's and her family's complaints seriously. 

"First they (Amina's family) registered a case at Palode Police Station. The policemen at the station said that the case fell under the jurisdiction of Nedumangad Station. Amina's parents say they had registered six cases at Nedumangad Police station against Ashkar," the minister told reporters as she came out after visiting Amina in the rehabilitation centre. "The inaction of the police is unbelievable," she said.

In the wake of Arshith's death, Amina's family has raised suspicions of Ashkar's involvement in the death of Amina's brother. Amina's father told reporters on Monday that his son had died by drowning. "He knew to swim well so we don't know what had happened. But Ashkar had said that he would kill me and my son by running a vehicle over us," Amina's father said.

He said Ashkar's anger was triggered by his refusal to register the family property, 10 cents and a house, in his name.

Amina's mother, Shajeela Beevi, said that Ashkar had even tried to poison her daughter. It was in 2022 that Amina was married to Ashkar. Her parents say that Amina was subjected to the worst forms of torture by Ashkar, his mother and his sister. 

Shajeela Beevi said that Ashkar had attempted to kill Amina multiple times, once by drugging her and then trying to hang her and another time by pushing her out of a moving autorickshaw. She said that when her husband finally brought her home, she was bleeding from her nose.