A four-member team of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday met the family of the 17-year-old girl who died by suicide in Thanjavur district last month and said the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu was “interested only in the votes of Christians and Muslims”.
The development comes a day after the Madurai bench of Madras high court transferred the probe into the suicide case from the state police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on her father’s petition amid allegations of forced conversion.
The BJP team, constituted by party president JP Nadda on January 27, also met district officials on Tuesday and enquired about the probe in the case. Lok Sabha MP Sandhya Ray (Madhya Pradesh, party leaders Vijayashanti (Telangana), Chitra Wagh (Maharashtra) and Geetha Vivekananda (Karnataka) are part of the BJP team.
After meeting the family, Vijayashanti told reporters in Ariyalur that they want to put a “full stop” to the issue of religious conversions. “What happened to her could happen to any child tomorrow. It makes us question what is happening in convents across Tamil Nadu?” Vijayashanti asked.
“Why is the DMK government silent on this? Why is the chief minister not speaking on this issue? Don’t they want Hindu votes? They want only votes of Christians and Muslims? Leave that aside, this is about justice for a child. They are changing the narrative of the subject.”
{{/usCountry}}“Why is the DMK government silent on this? Why is the chief minister not speaking on this issue? Don’t they want Hindu votes? They want only votes of Christians and Muslims? Leave that aside, this is about justice for a child. They are changing the narrative of the subject.”
{{/usCountry}}The team is also scheduled to meet the Thanjavur collector and superintendent of police.
On Monday, Justice G R Swaminathan ordered the transfer of the case to the federal agency days after the BJP released a 45-second video in which the girl is purportedly heard saying warden of a Christian residential school where she studied asked her parents to convert to Christianity. Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) member Muthuvel filmed the purported video on January 17 while the girl was battling for her life at a hospital. Muthuvel’s mobile phone has been sent to a forensic lab in Chennai for examination on the court’s directions.
The Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Congregation, which runs the 160-year-old school in Thanjavur, has denied the charge of conversion, saying they provide secular education for all as per the Indian Constitution.
On Sunday, BJP state chief K Annamalai, who led a delegation that visited the girl’s family, called Tamil Nadu’s intelligence department incompetent and questioned whether it gave “a true briefing to the chief minister” about the case.
Meanwhile, a team from the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) led by its chairperson Priyank Kanoongo also visited Thanjavur on Monday to conduct an inquiry into the case.
The commission spoke to senior police personnel, officials from revenue department and healthcare workers of Thanjavur medical college hospital where the girl died on January 19. It also met local residents, the girl’s classmates and local activists.
A judicial magistrate recorded the girl’s statement three days before she died on January 19. In the statement, a copy of which HT has seen, the girl, a resident of Ariyalur district, blamed her 74-year-old hostel warden for torturing her, hitting her, and scolding her to do work and audit hostel accounts.
The court took into account media interviews given by school education minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi that a departmental inquiry has found no evidence of religious conversion to conclude that when a “high ranking” minister himself has taken a stand, investigation of the case cannot continue with the Tamil Nadu police.
“I therefore direct the Director, Central Bureau of Investigation, New Delhi to assign an officer to take over the investigation from the State Police,” the order on Monday said.