Tamil Nadu: 9-year-old bonded labourer died due to blunt force to head
According to the post-mortem report accessed by DT Next, the cause of death is due to “blunt force injury to the head by a heavy weapon” and the skull fracture is “ante-mortem (before death) in nature”
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CHENNAI: The post-mortem report of the nine-year-old bonded labourer, Mannepalli Venkatesh, whose body was exhumed from Palar riverbed along Panjai Arasan Thangal village in Kancheepuram a few days ago, has revealed that the cause of death was “blunt force injury to the head by a heavy weapon”. This finding contradicts his accused employers’ claims that he had died due to health complications while in bondage.
According to the post-mortem report accessed by DT Next, the cause of death is due to “blunt force injury to the head by a heavy weapon” and the skull fracture is “ante-mortem (before death) in nature”. The forensic doctor who performed the post-mortem stated in the report that the injuries were sufficient to cause death.
Though the doctor did not ascertain external injuries due to the advanced decomposition of the body, the skull injury ascertained that he died of a blunt force injury to his head. “Skull-diastatic fracture of coronal suture 11cms on right side, 3cms on left side, sagittal suture on front 5cms, with surrounding brownish black discoloration of cranial bones (extravasation of blood),” the report said, explaining the extent of the internal injury.
The post-mortem report has busted the claims of the accused – N Muthu, his wife Dhanabagyam and their son Rajasekar of Agraharam village in Tirupati – that he had died of jaundice a month ago. The boy had ended up as a bonded labourer following the death of his father Chennaiah a year ago.
The couple, who had held the boy a bonded labourer, told the police that he died on April 12 in a private hospital in Pudupalayam village in Tiruvannamalai district and that fearing legal action, they buried the boy’s body in the Palar riverbed without informing his family.
They attempted to cover up the death when Venkatesh’s mother Mannepalli Ankamma approached Muthu on May 15 to take her son back. They told her that her son had gone missing from the hospital and sent her away. The woman filed a police complaint on April 19, leading to the arrests of the three accused.
Following the post-mortem report, the police invoked section 103 (1) (punishment for murder) along with various sections of BNS, including the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989, Juvenile Justice Act 2015 and Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986, destruction of evidence, forced labour and forced child bonded labour against the three accused.
