TIRUPATTUR: The body of an 11-month-old baby girl was exhumed at Bandrikanur village in Kandhili after the medical officer of the PHC at Gejalnayakanpatti filed a complaint that the death could be a case of female infanticide.
The girl was the fourth daughter of a 38-year-old farmer, who doubles up as a sweet master in bakeries, and his 32-year-old homemaker wife. However, the health department officials said the woman’s age was 24 years as per their records. The couple already has three daughters aged 7, 6, and 3 years.
According to police, the complaint was filed by medical officer Usha Devi on July 9, and an FIR for suspicious death was registered the same day. Following due procedures, the police said a team from Vellore Government Medical College and Hospital, along with the tahsildar and police, carried out the exhumation on Tuesday. SP Shreya Gupta said only after the postmortem report arrives will they be able to ascertain the cause of death.
A senior district health department official said they were suspicious, as the death, which happened on June 19, was reported to the nurse only on July 6. Further, the officials noted the woman had told the officials that between the third and fourth child, she had become pregnant once, which ended in a “natural miscarriage”. Moreover, neither the woman nor her husband had undergone any permanent family planning procedure. “That’s another reason for the suspicion,” the officials said.
According to the health department officials, the child was administered MR vaccine on June 11. On June 12, the staff from the PHC visited the child’s house as part of a routine follow-up, as children usually develop fever after taking the vaccine.
The child was alright when we visited, said the officials. On June 18, the child was brought again to the PHC with minor symptoms of fever, for which medicines were provided. The child died around 12.30 am on June 19 after developing sudden complications and seizures, the parents had said.