A seven-year-old girl breathed her last at the Medical College Hospital here on Tuesday after allegedly being tortured by her stepmother.
According to the police, the deceased is Adeethi S Namboothiri, daughter of Subrahmanian Namboothiri, Kottivattathu Illam, Thattekadu, Thiruvambadi. The family is currently residing near the Bilathikulam Temple and Adithi was a first standard student of the BEM UP School, Bilathikulam.
According to the Nadakkavu police, the girl was admitted to a private hospital in the city with serious burn injuries around 12 pm on Monday. The doctors, who found the parents’ explanation that the girl had accidentally fallen into hot water unsatisfactory, informed the police about the incident. Later, she was rushed to the Medical College Hospital where she died around 1am.
According to the police, preliminary medical reports confirmed that the girl had undergone extreme physical torture which led to her death. There were also marks on her body and her head. Local residents said that they had informed Childline activists about the torture suffered by the girl from her stepmother.
Though they had asked the woman not to ill-treat the kid, she discarded the warnings, added the locals.
Subrahmanian Namboothiri is a priest at the Bilathikulam Mahadeva Temple. He has been residing in Bilathikulam for nearly two years. The police said that Adeethi’s mother had died four years ago in a road accident.