The Kerala government on Wednesday (July 1) informed the High Court regarding the termination of the District Child Protection Officer (DCPO), who purportedly failed to take any steps to protect the 1.5 year-old-infant, who died in Negumangad, Thiruvananthapuram on May 29, 2026 on account of torture by his mother's partner, Ashkar.

The Division Bench of Chief Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Syam Kumar V.M. was considering a suo motu public interest litigation that was registered on the basis of a letter written by Justice Devan Ramachandran pointing out systemic failures.

In the letter, Justice Ramachandran had requested for creating an effective mechanism with the cooperation of machineries including the police, hospitals, child protection officers, welfare officers as well as the Legal Services Authorities constituted in the State.

During the last hearing, the Court had directed the State to inform about the steps taken in the investigation. It had also noted that the allegation against the DCPO, Thiruvananthapuram for not taking any action even though the child's grandmother had informed about the possibility of abuse by Ashkar prior to the child's death.

When the matter came up today, the Court perused the report and the case diary, and remarked that there has been substantial progress in the investigation.

The Court further noted that as per the affidavit filed by the Principal Secretary of the Department of Women and Child Development (WCD), serious lapses were noted on the part of the afore DCPO in not taking steps to protect the child and that he had since been terminated from service.

It was also noticed that charge memo is proposed to be initiated against the DCPO in addition to departmental action.

Recording the same, the Court posted the case on July 29 for further reports on the progress of the investigation as well as on the steps proposed to be taken or taken against the DCPO.

Case No: WP(PIL) No. 123 of 2026

Case Title: Suo Motu v. State of Kerala and Ors.