Kochi: Passion crimes and those committed especially by jilted lovers are on the rise in Kerala. In yet another gruesome incident, a 17-year-girl was stabbed several times by a youth at Kakkattumoola on Infopark Road in Kakkanad on Monday evening.

The girl, who suffered injuries on her neck, chest, stomach and hand in the attack, has been admitted to the Medical College Hospital at Kalamassery. A surgery was performed on the teen but she was reportedly still critical.

According to the police, the assailant was a native of Padamugal and was earlier close to the victim. A search has been launched to trace the youth, who had arrived on a bike to carry out the attack that took place around 4.45 pm.

The girl worked part-time at a daycare centre near her house and was also enrolled at a private educational institution in Ernakulam. The youth reached the daycare on a bike, accosted the girl on the road in front of it and stabbed her several times. When the girl fell on the ground after first stabbing her on the neck, the youth sat on her and continued the attack.

Hearing the girl’s screams, passersby rushed to the spot and took the girl to hospital but the assailant escaped leaving his bike behind. By that time the victim had lost consciousness.

The victim’s friends claimed the girl and the youth were earlier close but recently the former had started maintaining a distance from the latter as they belonged to different castes.

She had attended classes in Ernakulam till noon on Monday and had reached the daycare in the afternoon before she was attacked. “The youth probably followed the girl from the institution in Ernakulam where she studied. The picture will be clear only when the victim’s statement is taken after she regains consciousness,” said a police official.

The ancestral house of the girl is at Athani near the Ernakulam Collectorate but she has been living with her mother at a rented house in Kakkattumoola for the last few years.

Similar attack nearby

Incidentally, another attack on a girl had taken place a few months ago just a kilometre from the spot where the young woman was stabbed on Monday. In the previous incident that happened at midnight, a young man had woken up a girl sleeping in her house, doused her with petrol and sparked a fire. The victim of that assault, which occurred at Athani, was a plus-two student. Both the girl and the man were reportedly close to each other. The girl succumbed to her burns, while the young man who received burn injuries in the attack too died.

The bloody trail of vengeance

Monday's incident at Kakkanad was the latest in a series of similar attacks by spurned lovers. Other similar crimes reported in the recent past across Kerala are:

January 6, 2020: A young man named Anu killed himself after murdering his girlfriend -- Ashika, 21, - at her home at Karakonam locality in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram district. The couple, who were neighbours, were reportedly in a relationship for long. Anu, who reached Ashika's house, went to her room and bolted the door from inside. He then slit her throat, before slitting his own neck.

June 15, 2019: Soumya Pushpakaran, a Civil Police Ofcer from Vallikunnam, Mavelikkara, was hacked and burnt to death in broad day light by another CPO named N A Ajaz. Ajaz also succumbed to the injuries he sustained during the attack.

May 31, 2019: Pushpalata, 39, a nursing assistant at SAT Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram, was stabbed by former ambulance driver Nidhin of Kollam after she rejected his marriage proposal. The right ear of the Chengannur native was partially severed in the attack.

May 28, 2019: In Meenadom near Kottayam, a man tried to murder a woman after she ended their friendship. Nedungottu Shins from Vattakkunnu near Meenadom entered the woman's house and tried to smother her with a pillow.

April 4, 2019: An engineering student Neethu, 22, of Thrissur was killed by her friend Nidheesh, a resident of Vadakkekad. She was hacked and then set ablaze after she rejected his marriage proposal.

March 14, 2019: Palakkad native Manu, 24, tried to set a woman ablaze at Panampilly Nagar in Kochi after she rejected his overtures. The youth who fled to Abu Dhabi was arrested after a month.

March 13, 2019: A girl student was stabbed and set on fire by 18-year-old Ajin Reji Mathew after she backed off from their relationship. The incident happened in broad daylight at Thiruvalla town. The girl later succumbed to her injuries.