KOCHI: After the tragic deaths of 23 children in Palakkad district between 2003 and 2023 sparked widespread alarm and prompted the Kerala High Court to consider a plea seeking a CBI probe, the Kerala Police has now concluded that none of the cases involved foul play. According to the state force, 16 of those tragic deaths were by suicide while seven were determined to be purely accidental. Some of the cases involved young boys, while the remaining were of girls aged 13 and below.
According to the official report filed before the High Court, detailed investigations revealed that the 16 suicides were the direct result of psychological distress, including acute emotional disturbance, frustration arising from unmet desires, fear of parental reprimand, and other age-related vulnerabilities unique to adolescents. The police explicitly stated that no incriminating evidence emerged during the probe that warranted charges of abetment of suicide or any other cognizable offence against anyone.
The remaining seven child deaths were conclusively determined to be accidental, heavily backed by extensive inquest proceedings, postmortem examinations, and corroborative forensic evidence. “In none of these cases were any element of criminal culpability detected so as to attract penal provisions under the Indian Penal Code (IPC),” the status report specified. The very first case of this cluster was registered back in March 2003 at the Mannarkad police station, involving a 13-year-old boy who tragically died by suicide after hanging himself from a ceiling fan in his bedroom.
The report filed by Palakkad District Police Chief Ajit Kumar added that after completing exhaustive investigations into all 23 child death cases, final reports were duly submitted before the respective sub-divisional magistrate courts, seeking formal sanction to close the cases due to the absolute absence of any incriminating or foul play evidence. The magistrate courts, upon independent judicial scrutiny of all materials on record, accepted the final police reports. The police chief further assured the court that the investigations included detailed inquests conducted by authorized officers, medicolegal autopsies carried out by competent medical experts, inspection of the crime scenes with the assistance of scientific experts, the seizure of material objects under duly prepared mahazars, and the collection and preservation of vital physical and forensic evidence, which were forwarded to accredited forensic science laboratories for verification.
Furthermore, proper photographic documentation of the scenes and the deceased was systematically carried out, and comprehensive witness statements were recorded in strict accordance with the law. Thus, the investigations successfully satisfied the rigorous tests of fairness, transparency, and procedural compliance as mandated under Indian criminal jurisprudence, the state police report maintained.
ലഘു വിവരണം
2003 മുതൽ 2023 വരെയുള്ള കാലയളവിൽ പാലക്കാട് ജില്ലയിൽ 23 കുട്ടികൾ മരിച്ച സംഭവത്തിൽ യാതൊരുവിധ ദുരൂഹതകളോ ക്രിമിനൽ പശ്ചാത്തലമോ ഇല്ലെന്ന് കേരള പോലീസ് ഹൈക്കോടതിയെ അറിയിച്ചു. മരണങ്ങളിൽ 16 എണ്ണം കുട്ടികളുടെ മാനസിക സമ്മർദ്ദം മൂലമുള്ള ആത്മഹത്യകളും 7 എണ്ണം അപകടങ്ങളുമാണെന്നാണ് പാലക്കാട് ജില്ലാ പോലീസ് മേധാവി സമർപ്പിച്ച റിപ്പോർട്ടിൽ വ്യക്തമാക്കുന്നത്. ശാസ്ത്രീയ തെളിവുകളുടെയും പോസ്റ്റ്മോർട്ടം റിപ്പോർട്ടുകളുടെയും അടിസ്ഥാനത്തിൽ പൂർത്തിയാക്കിയ ഈ അന്വേഷണ റിപ്പോർട്ടുകൾ നേരത്തെ മജിസ്ട്രേറ്റ് കോടതികൾ അംഗീകരിച്ചിരുന്നതായും പോലീസ് കോടതിയെ ബോധിപ്പിച്ചു.
(With inputs from TNIE)
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