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Tamil Nadu student suicide case: HC attacks BJP leaders for alleging conversion
The court also refused to quash the chargesheet filed against the hostel warden for allegedly abetting the girl’s suicide.
Chennai: The Madras High Court came down heavily on BJP leaders without taking their names for suspecting religious conversion into the suicide of a 17-year-old girl student in 2022 in Tamil Nadu.
The court also refused to quash the chargesheet filed against the hostel warden for allegedly abetting the girl’s suicide. Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai and his party leaders in January 2022 had alleged that the child studying in class 12 (in Sacred Heart Higher Secondary School) and staying in the school’s hostel in Michaelpatti in Thanjavur district, died by suicide because she was allegedly pressurising by her hostel warden (Sagaya Mary) to convert to Christianity. The court passed the orders on December 16 on Mary’s petition to quash the charge sheet against her.
“Perusal of the records shows that the attempt was made to stamp this event as forcible religious conversion, but the 1st respondent (Central Bureau of Investigation-CBI) Investigating Officer has done a remarkable job in an honest manner to bring out the truth,” said Justice G Ilangovan of the Madurai Bench of the Madras high court. “There was no ground reason for suspecting the allegation of conversion. This was fairly admitted by the learned Special Public Prosecutor (N Mohideen Basha) at the time of argument. These things ought to have been avoided by the responsible persons. But damage ought not to have been made. But made, which cannot be repaired now.”
The child had consumed poison on January 9, 2022 and 10 days later she died at a hospital. She had at the time given a dying declaration on video that hostel warden Mary made her do several chores at the hostel such as cleaning and cutting grass because of which she wanted to end her life. The CBI had concluded that “due to additional work of maintaining of accounts of the hostel, the deceased unable to focus on her studies; the petitioner alleged to have tortured the deceased by giving hostel accounts work and she did not allow the deceased to prepare 12th Standard examination,” the court said. The CBI in October closed the case stating that religious conversion wasn’t the reason for the child’s suicide.
The justice appreciated the CBI for bringing out the truth in the case. The child’s father had previously moved Madras High Court seeking a CBI probe which was admitted by justice G R Swaminathan. Before the case was transferred to the CBI, the Tamil Nadu police had also rejected the BJP’s claims as baseless.
“The learned Senior Counsel (Nithya Ramakrishnan) appearing for the petitioner would further submit that even if the dying Declaration is taken on its face value, nothing can be inferred to the effect that the petitioner intended the deceased to commit suicide,” the court said. Trial will decide if the warden’s intention was good or bad, the judge added.
