Jennifer Juliet was 5 years old and her brother Robin Christopher was 3. On Tuesday, September 29, they were found dead in a concrete tank at the rented house where they lived, in Kozhinjampara, Palakkad district, in the Indian state of Kerala.
At first, everything seemed like an accident: the police registered the case as an unnatural death and suspected the children had fallen in while playing. But the family didn’t believe it. How could two children drown together in a small tank that wasn’t even full? It was the father’s uncle, Selvam, who asked Nivedya about it in private, and she admitted that she had drowned them herself.
According to the police, in the bathroom of the house she grabbed the girl by the head and held her underwater until she stopped moving. Then she threw the boy in. The autopsy confirmed death by drowning and ruled out other injuries. The mother herself reportedly said that she saw them as an obstacle to her dream of becoming a model and living independently.
The police aren’t accepting that account at face value: they are reviewing her mobile phone records and digital footprint, and the lead investigator said there are no signs of mental illness. What drives someone to believe that two children weigh more than a dream?