Who killed Baby Clara?
She was named Mridhula Maria Clara by her adopted parents. Within two months of her adoption from an orphanage in Madurai, Clara was taken to a hospital on July 7, 2016, by her father, where she was declared dead. The post-mortem confirmed it was a murder. The child was beaten, suffocated and compressed on the neck, due to which she lost her life, according to the autopsy.
On June 8, 2017, eleven months after the murder, Chintadripet police arrested the adoptive father, X Gerard, an advocate. The police contended that he was upset as the child had delayed speech problems for which he got her treated at a hospital in Nungambakkam. As there was no improvement in her speech, he felt cheated for adopting a ‘defective’ child and murdered her, the police contended.
Gerard argued that he was away from home and received a call saying that his child was found unconscious near the bathroom, after which he rushed home and took her to the hospital.
When the trial ended a month ago, Sessions judge TH Mohammed Farooq acquitted Gerard, as the prosecution neither submitted any proof of the child having speech problems nor did produce the call detail records (CDR) of the man they accused, which would have proved his presence at the house.
“On careful examination of the evidence on record, it would be established that the investigation had been done irresponsibly and carelessly,” the sessions judge stated and went on to chide the investigating officers for not collecting any evidence from the house, despite the post-mortem confirming the child was murdered. “No fingerprint expert or forensic expert was used to collect any evidence. If a proper investigation was done at the inception itself, using forensic scientific methods and fingerprint experts, vital material would have been available to fix the right person. At least it would have helped to exclude the presence of other intruders,” the judge noted.
Inspector Sivamani who took over investigations on August 4, 2016, did not do anything for the next nine months until he was transferred. He deposed before the court that he tried to examine Gerard and his wife, a professor of law, several times, but they were not available.
Terming the Inspector’s investigation as irresponsible and unscrupulous, the judge wondered whether it would be difficult to ascertain the whereabouts of a practising advocate and a law college professor. “The casual manner of investigation raises doubt. It would further lead to the inference that no incriminating material was collected,” the court noted.
Inspector Sahadevan who took over after Sivamani arrested Gerard the same day he began further investigations in the case (July 8, 2017), did not submit to the court on what basis he arrested the accused nor did submit any incriminating evidence to prove his contention. The address in the charge sheet, mentioning the place of recovery of the pillow allegedly used to smother the child was different from the residential address and elicited a stinging response from the court. The prosecution did not provide any evidence to prove the motive. “Doctors from the hospital have not deposed about any such treatment given to the child. No witness is available to prove that the child suffered from speech defects,” the court noted.
Gerard argued in the court that he had made allegations of corruption before the anti-corruption police against the top officials of Tamil Nadu law university because of which a false case was foisted against him. DVAC FIR states that Gerard made his complaint on January 1, 2017. Seven months later, he was arrested for the murder. DVAC eventually booked former vice-chancellor, Vanangamudi and five others based on the complaint. But, who killed Clara?