Following the death of a 34-year-old woman during childbirth at home in Kerala’s Malappuram district, police on Monday charged her husband, self-styled cleric Sirajudheen, with culpable homicide and arrested him.
Sirajudheen runs a YouTube channel called Madavoor Qafila, which publishes religious content and has nearly 65,000 subscribers. He was arrested by Malappuram police under BNS sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 238 (destroying evidence).
“We have got the postmortem report, which said the woman died of postpartum haemorrhage (heavy bleeding after delivery). Subsequently, we took him into custody and arrested him after verifying other details,” a police officer said.
The woman, Asma, died on Saturday night while giving birth at home after her husband decided not to take her to hospital, police said. It was Asma’s fifth delivery and three of them were home births.
After her death, Sirajudheen took her body to her native Perumbavoor in Ernakulam district for burial but was prevented by her relatives. Subsequently, police came to know about the incident.
Kerala Health Minister Veena George said the death of the mother amounted to murder. “Kerala is a state with the lowest infant mortality rate and maternal mortality rate in the country. But certain unhealthy tendencies have crept into society. In Saturday’s death after home birth, we have come to know that the bleeding woman was left unattended for three hours. This issue is very serious…,” she said.
Meanwhile, officials have raised concern after a video on social media purportedly showed an event to facilitate women who opted for home delivery. In the video, which specifically mentions Malappuram, women who had home births were invited to a stage along with their babies. Some of the women were heard sharing their experiences and advocating against institutional delivery. They were wearing graduation caps at the event.
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Malappuram District Medical Officer Dr R Renuka said authorities have taken note of the video. “We have handed over it to the police for further action. Although the health department has been campaigning against home births, the message faces resistance from certain quarters. No religious outfit is involved in this, but certain people misuse the symbols of religion to promote home births,” she said.
As per health department data, of the 523 home births reported in Kerala in 2023, Malappuram district accounted for 253.
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