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Kallakurichi student death: JIPMER doctors to examine autopsies
The parents have alleged foul play in the 17-year old girl’s death on the hostel premises of the private residential school in Chinnasalem in Kallakurichi district
Chennai: Following the second post mortem of the girl who died in a private school in Kallakurichi, the Madras high court on Friday directed a team of three doctors from JIPMER hospital in Puducherry to examine both the autopsy reports.The second post-mortem has also been videographed.
The court also directed the child’s father to inform it when the family would take her body, to which the parents responded that they would do so on Saturday morning.
Justice N Sathish Kumar passed the orders after asking the state to produce a copy of the Supreme Court order after the child’s father had appealed for the autopsy procedure to include a doctor of their choice, which was rejected by the top court.
The parents have suspected foul play in the 17-year old girl’s death on the hostel premises of the private residential school in Chinnasalem in Kallakurichi district. She was found dead on July 13 and the school management have said that it’s a case of suicide. Protests since then erupted into a riot-like situation on July 17 in which 52 police officers were injured. Locals indulged in arson and the school was vandalised.
Since the school property was damaged, the state government has identified nearby schools where the students can be moved to as a stop-gap arrangement. “We have identified five government schools and 17 private schools in the surrounding area so that students’ education isn’t impacted,” said school education minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamohzi.
The school’s principal, correspondent, secretary and two teachers have been arrested by the Kallakurichi police in connection with the death of the child. A court-directed SIT formed by the state government is investigating the incidents which led to the violence. The state government also transferred superintendent of police S Selvakumar and district collector P N Sridhar. After criticism that an intelligence failure led to the violence, the Tamil Nadu inspector general of intelligence Asiammal was also transferred.
Also, the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) has said that the school’s hostel did not have any licence to function. After inspecting the school on Thursday, SCPCR’s chairperson Saraswathi Rangasamy said that the district collector had issued an advertisement three months ago for private hostels to apply for permits. “Despite this announcement, the school had not sought permission to run the hostel and this is a punishable offence,” she said. To this, the newly appointed district collector Shravan Kumar Jadavath said that SCPCR will submit its report and the district will file its response. “We will reply to whichever departments are dealing with permissions,” he said. “While investigations are proceeding on one side, we are doing everything possible to restore the school. We are in touch with CBSE officials and state matriculation officials (regarding the students’ certificates which were destroyed) and we have data of the students online.”
