Supreme Court allows CBI probe into Tamil Nadu girl’s suicide

The case has acquired political overtones, with the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party pushing for a CBI investigation, citing a video from the hospital where the girl is heard speaking of attempts to forcibly convert her to Christianity.

Asking the Tamil Nadu government not to make it a “prestige issue”, the Supreme Court on Monday affirmed the Madras high court order that transferred the case of a 17-year-old girl’s death by suicide from the state police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for a probe into circumstances that led to her death, including the allegation of forced conversion.

The Supreme Court underscored that the high court’s order on January 31 was passed considering various factors and that it was justified (Representative use)

“Don’t make is a prestige issue. A number of things have happened and it is not appropriate for us to interject the investigation by the CBI. As a state, you investigated initially and you should now hand over all the materials to the CBI to enable them investigate,” a bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and Bela M Trivedi told the lawyers appearing for the Tamil Nadu government.

The case has acquired political overtones, with the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party pushing for a CBI investigation, citing a video from the hospital where the girl is heard speaking of attempts to forcibly convert her to Christianity.

The court underscored that the high court’s order on January 31 was passed considering various factors and that it was justified . “We have gone through the matter and therefore we are saying that we cannot interfere. There are a number of other things that required it ( the high court order). Sometimes what happens during the pendency of a case is also important. That has weighed before the high court and we find nothing wrong with it,” said the bench while clarifying that it would not entertain the state government’s appeal as far as the high court order on transfer of the probe is concerned.

On January 31, the Madurai bench of the high court ordered the transfer of the investigation to the federal agency days after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released a 45-second video in which the girl from Thanjavur is purportedly heard saying the warden of a Christian residential school where she studied asked her parents to convert to Christianity.

The Supreme Court’s indisposition to interfere with the CBI probe came even as the state government, through senior lawyers Mukul Rohatgi and P Wilson, pressed that the minor girl died by suicide and that there were no exceptional circumstances warranting a CBI probe. “There is no angle of religious conversion. This was not a political matter. There was not even a prayer for a CBI probe. The high court heard it on a daily basis and passed such an order. We cannot understand why,” argued Rohatgi.

The bench, however, retorted: “The high court does not pass an order just like that. There were several factors. As far as the investigation by the CBI is concerned, there are a lot of things that happened in the meantime.”

The court also turned down the state government’s argument that it was not a party before the high court and was not heard before the order was passed.

“The police were a party before the high court and they were heard. Also, the high court does not need to seek approval of a state government before exercising its power to transfer the probe,” remarked the bench.

The top court further said that it could entertain the state’s appeal only to the extent of expunging certain adverse remarks made by the high court in its order. “Issue notice on the special leave petition. Meanwhile, the investigation in terms of the impugned high court order will continue,” stated the court order.

In its order, the high court noted that the police “wanted to completely suppress the conversion angle” and that the investigation could not remain with the state police after three state cabinet ministers gave a clean chit to the school management by issuing public statements.

Filing an appeal through the director general of police (DGP), the Tamil Nadu government approached the top court on February 3, arguing that there were no justified circumstances warranting the transfer of investigation from the state police.

The petition, filed through advocate Joseph Aristotle S, sought quashing of the high court orders on January 21, 22 and 24 when the HC issued certain directions regarding examination of the dying declaration and the examination of the mobile phone of Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) member Muthuvel, who filmed the video on January 17 while the girl was battling for her life at a hospital.

The state’s petition maintains that the high court could not have guided the investigation, which has to be left to the exclusive jurisdiction of investigating officers. It added that the high court order went beyond the relief sought by the girl’s father in his petition. While the father asked to hand over the probe to the state’s CB-CID, the petition says, the high court transferred it to CBI which was beyond the remit of the prayers in the petition.

The Tamil Nadu government has also stated in its plea that there was no mention of forcible conversion in the girl’s dying declaration recorded on January 16 and the preliminary inquiry carried out by the local police also ruled it out. In that 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 her work and audit hostel accounts.

The petition asserts that the high court could not have relied on an unverified video or some statements made in the media to discredit the investigation conducted by the local police, which was also kept busy in complying with the high court orders.

It further pointed out that Thanjavur district’s education officer had looked into the matter and noted in his report that no complaint of any religious conversion was made against the girl’s school for a decade. The report said more Hindu students studied at the school than Christians and Muslims, contended the state.

On January 22, the high court asked the police to focus on the circumstances that led to the girl’s suicide, adding the person who filmed the video of the girl child should not be harassed by investigators. On January 24, it ordered forensic analysis of the viral video in which the deceased spoke about the forced attempts of the school authorities to convert her to Christianity.

The school management, which also intervened in the high court as a party, dismissed the allegations of religious conversion and alleged that the girl was facing problems at her house.

The prosecution, on its part, told the high court that the case was being politicized and communalized by certain vested interests while maintaining that the investigation was on the right track.

But the HC decided to hand over the investigation to CBI after reproaching the state police for ruling out conversion angle without a thorough probe. “What led the child to suicide has to be investigated. Before the investigation officer, the dying declaration of the child is available. Their authenticity is undoubted. Without doing so, District Superintendent of Police wanted to completely suppress the conversion angle. The foregoing circumstances cumulatively taken will definitely create an impression that the investigation is not proceeding on the right lines,” it held.

The high court order added: “There is nothing inherently improbable in the allegation that there was an attempt at conversion. It could be true or false. The matter called for investigation and not outright rejection.”

The BJP had welcomed the high court order. “The fight shall continue till justice is delivered,” BJP leader BL Santosh tweeted hours after the order.