Alappuzha (Kerala), Aug 12 (PTI) The post-mortem report of the infant whose body was exhumed a day ago failed to determine whether the child was killed or was stillborn, police said on Monday.
Police had on Sunday arrested a 22-year-old woman and her male friend after exhuming the body of her infant from a place near Thakazhi here.
Poochackal resident Donna and Thakazhi resident Thomas (24) were arrested on Sunday after a forensic team exhumed a two-day-old child’s body from vacant land.
A senior police official from the district said the body was decomposed, and it was difficult to ascertain the cause of the death. Further examinations will be conducted, the official said.
Police, however, said the male accused has said that the child was not alive when he received the body before burying it.
Police have registered a case under Sections 91 (Act done with intent to prevent a child being born alive or to cause it to die after birth), 93 (Exposure and abandonment of child under twelve years of age, by parent or person having care of it) and 94 (Concealment of birth by secret disposal of dead body) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
The police have also recorded the arrest of the accomplice.
The incident came to light on August 10, when the woman reached a private hospital in Kochi seeking treatment.
Police said the woman had told the hospital authorities that her child was abandoned at an ‘Ammathottil’ centre in Alappuzha.
Ammathottil is an initiative of the Kerala State Council for Child Welfare (KSCCW), which provides cradle centres across the state where children can be left instead of abandoning them on the wayside or in other insecure places.
“The hospital authorities informed the police and found that her statement was contradictory. Later, we took her friends into custody,” police had said.
According to the police, the woman gave birth to the child on August 7. PTI RRT RRT SS
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