The suspected murder of a 4-year-old boy in a Candolim service apartment, and allegedly by his mother, qualifies as one that has all the makings of a psychological thriller where only the end will unravel the truth. Or will it!
Suchana Seth, a 39-year-old high profile Bengaluru-based tech entrepreneur and CEO of an AI lab, was arrested on Monday last for allegedly murdering her four-year-old son in Goa.
Characterized by her stubborn stand against sustained interrogation by the investigating authorities while in police custody, it can only be inferred that she is in a disturbed state of mind.
As the case continues to garner national headlines, people are shocked by the very nature of the crime. With each passing day, there are more of assumptions than anything concrete coming of the investigations prompting a national daily to comment that ‘as new details emerge, each one adds a deeper layer of shock and complexity to the crime’.
While this may leave both the media and the wider community struggling to comprehend what could motivate the mother to kill her own child, it is the various theories doing the rounds as possible reasons compelling the mother to take this drastic step that is baffling!
The police continue to find Suchana Seth’s stoic silence and strange and erratic behaviours combined with a defiant and unhelpful stand stonewalling all their efforts to take the case to a logical conclusion.
Despite allegations and prime facie evidence implicating her in the crime, the accused mother continues to maintain her innocence.
In law enforcement jargon, it is an open-and-shut case.
Yet, and as so rightly mentioned, with the incident having cast a web of questions around the plot and motive, the investigating authorities need to determine whether it was a pre-meditated crime or a spontaneous act of anger or revenge.
The murder narrative no doubt revolves around the discord between Suchana Seth and her former husband. As a pertinent question posed, if it was all about settling scores with her husband, where does the murder of the son come into the picture! Seemingly, she was very attached to her son and doted on him!
Even when one is to bring all of one’s deducing abilities into play, the ‘storyline’ somehow appears to be disjointed. It was as if there were no intentions to hide the ‘crime’.
The heinous act is believed to be related to a custody dispute with her estranged husband. Suchana Seth was presumably unhappy with the recent court order that permitted her husband to spend time with their child.
Does the death of the 4-year-old boy in Candolim highlight an emerging social problem, that of killing of a child by a parent in the context of parental separation and divorce!
Filicide, the murder of a child by the parent, is a multifaceted phenomenon with various causes and characteristics.
What would compel anyone to kill their own flesh and blood, one may ask!
“Child murder by parents is one of the most upsetting types of crime and it is more distressing when a mother kills her child because mothers are expected to be selfless and to love and protect their children at all costs.” (Pagelow, 1984)
It is well-known that cases of maternal filicide often involve extreme emotional disturbance.
With reasons given for such dastardly acts ranging from depression to psychological stress and more, it has been interesting to note that such cases eventually end with the perpetrators of the crime getting referred to mental hospitals for treatment.
Although guilty of uncontrollable impulsive behaviour, they are however not to be held responsible for their criminal actions because of a mental disorder. In short, since they are of unstable mind, their crime needs to looked at from a different perspective.
In this regard, Goans wouldn’t be unfamiliar with the names of Arminda Dora Fernandes of Sirsaim and Nimisha Valsan Gone from Chicalim!
I refer to an article ‘Filicide in the United States’ by Philip J Resnick appearing in the December 2016 edition of Indian Journal of Psychiatry.
If I may be allowed to reproduce a few excerpts from it.
“Mothers are supposed to be ‘guided by natural feminine instincts that can infer an angelic temperament, make them clairvoyant about their children’s needs and willing to place their own desires second to those of their family.” (Barnett, 2006).
“How can a mother commit such a crime against nature and all morality and end the lives she has so recently borne and nurtured?” (Thomas et al., 2001)
Studies reveal that a significant proportion of filicides end in completed suicide by the mother.
While it is actually difficult to gauge the exact mental state of the mother intent on taking the gruesome step, thoughts of committing suicide following the commissioning of the gruesome act demonstrates that act of remorse which categorizes her as one who is perfectly sane.
World psychiatric literature has been extensive in as far as they have been in citing various reasons for maternal filicide. But there is a general concurrence among psychologists that ‘a mother’s motive for filicide may be altruistic, acutely psychotic, or due to fatal maltreatment, unwanted child or spouse revenge’.
A new dimension has now been added to the causes that could spur thoughts of filicide!
It is rightly said that it is the children who pay when a marriage disintegrates. Child custodial battles are worse still!
There cannot be any argument over the fact that ‘parents should keep the children out of the line of fire when they are struggling through a tumultuous divorce’.
