Vicitim's husband and self-styled cleric cum YouTuber Sirajudheen.
Thiruvananthapuram: After the death of a 34-year-old woman during childbirth in Kerala’s Malappuram district, police arrested her husband, self-styled cleric Sirajudheen, charging him with culpable homicide, The Indian Express reported.
Sirajudheen has a YouTube channel called Madavoor Qafila, which airs religious content and has around 65,000 subscribers. Malappuram Police arrested him under BNS sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 238 (destroying evidence).
A police officer informed that they had the postmortem report, which revealed that the woman died of postpartum haemorrhage.
The deceased woman, identified as Asma, died on Saturday night, giving birth at home, police said, and this was after her husband chose not to admit her to a hospital. She was delivering her fifth child, and three of her children were delivered home.
Following her death, Sirajudheen took her body to her native place, Perumbavoor in Ernakulam, for burial, but her relatives prevented this. Police will know about the incident shortly.
Over the incident, Kerala Health Minister Veena George said that the accused’s act amounts 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, she said. She noted that the Asma, who was bleeding, was left unattended for three hours.” Subsequently, police came to know about the incident.
Meanwhile, a video reportedly appeared on social media, showing an event to facilitate home delivery for women who opted for it. According to TIE, the video mentions Malappuram and women who had home births were invited to a stage along with their babies. Some of them shared their experiences and advocated against institutional delivery. The women were wearing graduation caps for the event.
Officials raised concern over the event, and Malappuram District Medical Officer Dr R Renuka said that authorities had taken note of the video. She said that the health department has been running campaigns against home births, but it is facing resistance from certain quarters. She assures that no religious outfit is involved in this, but certain people misuse religious symbols to promote the problematic trend.