The Kerala Child Welfare Committee (CWC) said it will lodge a complaint with the State Police Chief in the case where a mother has been arrested under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) for allegedly sexually abusing her minor son. According to CWC chairperson advocate N Sunanda, the police have added her name as the informer in the first information report (FIR) filed in the case. Sunanda told TNM that it was not appropriate for the police to say that the CWC was the informer in the case.
“We didn't pass any information to the police. The police officials had brought the child to us for counselling after they got the information in November. The police had sent the boy (the survivor), his father, and his stepmother along with a female police officer to CWC," the chairperson said. There was already a twist in the case, as the younger sibling told the media that the father had forced his elder brother to give a statement against the mother. According to the sibling, the father allegedly used to hit him to force the statement against his mother. He also said that the father always threatened to put his mother in jail.
In the FIR, the Kadakkavoor police stated that the case was registered based on the letter sent to them by Thiruvananthapuram Child Welfare Officer. However, the CWC chairperson said, “The police should have received the complaint from someone else, after which they sent the boy to us for counselling. If that is the case, how did the CWC become the informer? We have never taken the statement of the boy. I saw the boy for the first time when the police brought him for counselling. We will lodge the complaint to the higher officials concerned along with the Director-General of Police.”
The 37-year old woman, a native of Vakkom in Thiruvananthapuram, was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly sexually abusing her 14-year old son. The incident, according to the child's statement, happened two years ago. The parents of the child separated and the father remarried and moved to the Middle East. The case was registered based on the complaint filed by the father during his visit to the state recently.
Sunanda had earlier told TNM that the survivor boy’s statement during the counselling session matched with what he had told the police.
Meanwhile, the State Police Chief Lokanath Behra has assigned Inspector General of Police (South Zone) Harshitha Attalluri to probe the case.