KOLLAM: After hours of dramatic scenes in Sooraj’s house in Adoor, the 13-month-old son of Uthra, who died under mysterious circumstances after a snakebite, was handed over to the victim’s parents on Tuesday afternoon as per an order of the Kerala State Women’s Commission. Uthra’s husband Sooraj was arrested and taken to her house in Anchal on Monday for evidence collection, in connection with her alleged murder by letting a cobra bite her.
Following this, the commission ordered Sooraj’s parents to hand over the boy to Uthra’s parents at the Anchal police station. However, when the police reached Sooraj’s house on Monday night with the commission’s order, the house was locked and Sooraj’s mother and child were missing.
When they contacted Sooraj’s father, he informed the cops that his wife and grandson had gone to his relative’s house in Ernakulam. The police waited there for the father, who had gone to the Punalur court as Sooraj was produced there, to come home. When he reached, he repeated the statement to the police that Sooraj’s mother and son were in Ernakulam. Later, the police left after informing his father that, as per the order, if they did not produce the child within 24 hours at the Anchal station, they had the right to arrest him and his family.
“In the morning, we again reached the house and interrogated Sooraj’s mother on her whereabouts in the previous night and she said she had gone to a relative’s house nearby,” said the police. Anchal and Adoor police and Child Welfare Committee officials arrived at Sooraj’s house to complete the custodial procedure of the child and take the boy from Adoor.
But Sooraj’s parents refused to produce the boy in person. They told the officials to take the child with them if they wanted, and that they would not come to the police station. Later, when Women’s Commission member Shahida Kamal asked the police to take legal action against the family members if they were opposing the order, Sooraj’s father agreed to produce the boy himself at the Anchal police station. The boy was handed over to Uthra’s parents in front of the police.