Parents find skull of Kerala teen killed 18 years ago

Kasaragod (Kerala):

The hands of the couple, who received a small cardboard box from the Kasaragod court, began to tremble with emotion and their eyes filled with tears. Because that box contained parts of the skull of his beloved daughter who was murdered in Goa 18 years ago, when she was just 13 years old.

According to the police, 13-year-old Sophia was murdered in Goa in December 2006 while she was working as a maid in the house of KC Hamsa, a contractor from Kasaragod. She reportedly suffered severe burns in the kitchen and out of fear of punishment, Hamsa murdered the girl and cut her body into pieces and then dumped them at an under-construction dam site in Goa, he said. The remains of the body were recovered in 2008. Although the accused was later arrested and a local court sentenced him to death in 2015, the Kerala High Court commuted his sentence to life imprisonment in 2019.

Despite the court punishing the accused, the parents did not find peace as they felt their daughter deserved at least a formal, dignified farewell. The girl's family, hailing from Coorg in neighboring Karnataka, wanted the court to hand over their daughter's body so that they could perform the last rites as per their religious customs.

The Principal Sessions Court here accepted their request and handed over the girl's skull to them on Monday. Apart from her mother Ayesha and father Moithu, some close relatives of the deceased girl, people of Aiyangeri in Coorg, were reportedly present when the skull was handed over by the court. Family sources said that the body was taken to his native place and buried in a local mosque on Monday night itself.

In the case of murder of a teenage girl, pieces of skull and bones recovered from a deserted place some time after the girl's death became evidence.

After helping solve a gruesome murder case, the mortal remains make a final, silent journey to 'their homeland' in an attempt to bring some peace to the girl's loved ones.