XXXXXXXXXX Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) A wailing mother has approached this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking a direction to entrust the investigation into the death of her daughter, which is the subject matter of Crime No.377 of 2023 of Museum Police Station, Thiruvananthapuram, to the Central Bureau of Investigation (for short 'the CBI').

(2.) Petitioner's daughter, born on 01/10/2009, studied in a wellknown school in Thiruvananthapuram. On the morning of 29/03/2023, she was found unconscious in the bathroom of her house, and after breaking open the door, she was rushed to the hospital. While undergoing treatment at the Medical College, she died on 01/04/2023. A crime was initially registered as FIR No. 344/2023 of the Museum Police Station under sec. 174 Cr.P.C.

(3.) Subsequently, the body was subjected to postmortem, which opined that the death was due to intracranial haemorrhage. However, the postmortem also revealed that the minor child had been subjected to continuous acts of sexual abuse through vaginal and anal penetrations. On the basis of the postmortem report dtd. 02/04/2023, another crime was registered on 12/04/2023 as Crime No.377 of 2023 before the Museum Police Station itself, alleging offences punishable under Sec. 376DA, 376E and 377 of the Indian Penal Code 1860, apart from Sec. 3(a), 3(d), 4(2), 5(i) and sec. 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012.