Child Rights Panel Registers Case Over Toddler's Suspected Malnutrition Death In Alappuzha

The Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights on Monday registered a case over the death of a two-year-old boy in Haripad here in a suspected case of malnutrition, officials said.

Commission member T C Jalaja Mol initiated the proceedings based on media reports about the incident.

A statement by the Commission said that it has sought explanations from the District Medical Officer, the secretary of Karthikappally grama panchayat, the District Child Protection Officer and the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) supervisor of the panchayat.

State Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said that the family is from his constituency and the matter has come to his notice.

“If any assistance needs to be provided from the government's side, we are ready to provide it. I have sent people there, including the concerned Tahsildar. After examining it, they have been asked to provide a report,” he told reporters.

The toddler was found dead at his home on Sunday.

He was reportedly acutely anaemic and appeared malnourished, with his weight recorded at 7.6 kg against the expected weight of around 12 kg for his age, police said.

The child's father, an autorickshaw driver, lives with his wife and children in Karthikappally.

The couple has five other children, including a newborn, while another child had died earlier, officials said.

The mother was admitted to the Government Medical College Hospital at Vandanam on Saturday for childbirth, leaving the children at home with their father.

The father found the two-year-old boy dead on Sunday morning.

The Child Welfare Committee has taken the surviving children into its care, officials added.