Sirajudheen, whose wife Asma died after delivering a baby at home in Malappuram, dabbled in traditional medicine, preaching and YouTube.

In his channel named ‘Madavoor Qafila', he hosts interviews, talks about music and peddles miraculous narratives of recovery with touches and taps. In one video, a woman’s uterine condition is claimed to have been cured with tender coconut water after a healer’s blessing. In another, a man is said to be relieved of stomach pain after being lightly slapped on the belly by a practitioner. There's also a story about a woman who delivered eight children without ever experiencing morning sickness, all attributed to a healer’s blessings.

Sirajudheen, originally from Alappuzha and previously working in Kasaragod, moved to Malappuram around one and a half years ago. An enterprising presence on social media, Sirajudheen cut a starkly different picture outside.

In East Kodur, Malappuram, he cut off interactions, and his family kept to themselves. They stepped out only to buy essential groceries or fresh fish, and the neighbours barely knew them—some hadn't even seen the man of the house, Sirajudheen, properly. He was often away, travelling for traditional religious healing practices. Even after living in the area for over a year and a half, the family remained almost invisible to the neighbours.

When Asma died after delivering their fifth child at home, nobody around them knew—until much later. According to the ward member Sadiq Pookkadan, he had met Sirajudheen a year ago and inquired about his activities. “He told me he was earning a living as a preacher. But he always stayed distant and didn’t engage with the local community. The family was detached from their neighbourhood and was not active in any social events,” Sadiq said

On Saturday evening, around 6 pm, Asma gave birth to a baby boy in their rented home. By 10 pm, she died reportedly of excessive bleeding. Without informing the local authorities or neighbours, Sirajudheen hired an ambulance, placed Asma’s body inside, took his four other children and the midwife holding the newborn into his car, and drove nearly 150 km to her family home in Perumbavoor. He arrived by 7 am on Sunday.

Even then, no one in Malappuram knew about the death. “He never interacted with anyone. Even during Eid, he didn’t come to the masjid,” said Shajahan, a neighbour. “We didn't know his wife was pregnant. We didn't even know she gave birth. The children never played with other kids. She never stepped out either.” Shajahan added that this wasn’t the first time Asma had given birth at home.

Sirajudheen travelled frequently, often with his wife and children, and met patients at their homes outside Kerala, never inviting them to his. According to Shajahan, the family once lived in a house near the main road at Thannikkal before shifting to their current, more secluded rental home, which fetched a monthly rent of ₹10,000.

Even the ASHA worker from the East Kodur sub-centre, who visited Asma's house multiple times, was never allowed in. Asma only spoke to her from behind a window and concealed her pregnancy. The panchayat authorities said that even the vice-president, who lived nearby, knew nothing about the family or the delivery.

After reaching Perumbavoor with Asma’s body, things turned tense. Her mother, brother, and other family members objected to the burial. Neighbours intervened and alerted the local police. The Perumbavoor police shifted the body to the taluk hospital for postmortem and registered an FIR under Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), treating the death as unnatural.

The newborn, meanwhile, was admitted to a nearby private hospital with breathing issues and low sugar levels. “They brought the baby without even cleaning him properly after delivery,” said Poomala ward member Reshma Arun. “The woman who assisted the home birth had also been taken along to Perumbavoor,” she added.

Asma’s parents, who live in modest conditions and do low-income jobs, were aware of her pregnancy but hadn’t visited her. A relative, Nassarudheen, said the family was financially better off and even owned a house in Alappuzha. “They chose to live in Malappuram because it suited Sirajudheen’s work better. The couple’s eldest child is 13, the youngest among the other four is under three,” he added.

The case has drawn attention in light of growing concerns over home births in Malappuram. A recent RTI response obtained by Kulathur Jaisingh revealed that between 2019 and September 2024, Kerala recorded 2,931 home deliveries, with Malappuram alone accounting for 1,244. During this period, 18 neonatal deaths were reported in the state—four of them were from Malappuram.

A medical officer from the district, Dr Prathibha K, has already moved the high court seeking stricter regulations on home births, including penalties for unregulated procedures. Her plea is rooted in the right of every child to receive proper medical attention and legal recognition at birth.

Ironically, the incident surfaced just a day before the state health department was set to stage a large-scale awareness campaign promoting institutional deliveries across Kerala as part of the World Health Day celebrations on April 7.