Police registered a case of unnatural death after a 34-year-old woman died in Kerala’s Malappuram district allegedly during childbirth at home Saturday night.
The woman’s husband, who police said is a self-styled orthodox cleric, allegedly did not take her to hospital and opted for a home birth.
According to police, it was Asma’s fifth delivery and three of them were home births. The couple lived with their four children in a rented house at Kodur panchayat in Malappuram.
Following the death of his wife, Sirajudheen hired an ambulance on Saturday night and took the body to her family at Perumbavoor in Ernakulam for burial. However, the family raised doubts about the nature of the death and alerted police. The Perumbavoor police then reached the house and moved the body to the Perumbavoor Taluk Hospital.
Police said that Asma’s body was brought to Perumbavoor early in the morning and that an investigation has been launched into the circumstances surrounding her death. The statements of the woman’s relatives will be recorded as part of the probe, police said.
While the Perumbavoor police are assisting with preliminary inquiries, the investigation is being led by the Malappuram police, officials said.
Kodur panchayat vice president Saddique Pookkadan said officials came to know about the incident only on Sunday. ASHA workers had tried to approach the woman two months ago as part of a survey, but she did not come out of the house nor was it disclosed that she was pregnant, he said. He also accused the husband of deliberately keeping her away from neighbours. —(With PTI inputs)
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