Thanjavur Student Death Case Transferred To CBI By Madras High Court

Thanjavur student death case was transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) by the Madras High Court on January 31. This transfer was made the same day the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) team visited Thanjavur for an inquiry in connection with the case.

This decision came after the deceased girl's father filed a petition saying that he has lost faith in the investigation by Thanjavur Police and demanded an investigation by CBI or a similar investigating agency. In the previous hearing at Madras High Court, the bench had asked the person who had shot the video to submit his phone for investigation.

In a notice released on January 28, NCPCR announced its intention to visit the city for investigation, stating, "The Government of Tamil Nadu is reluctant to extend the necessary facility/support to the NCPCR team for the said inquiry into the incidence on the pretext of imposition of Model Code of Conduct which came into force due to Local Body Ordinary Elections in the State of Tamil Nadu. However, the Commission still stands to its proposed visit to Thanjavur District Tamil Nadu for the purpose."

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The NCPCR further said that the Government of Tamil Nadu was not cooperating with their enquiry and this is why a team from the Centre has been brought in to conduct the investigation. NCPCR's investigating team is led by its Chairperson Priyank Kanoonga.

They are acting after receiving a complaint with the allegations that the deceased girl was forced to convert to Christianity illegally. The complaint also claimed that when she refused, the girl was punished and this led to her death by suicide.

Thanjavur Student Death

A student from Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu was allegedly tortured and harassed by the school warden. Reportedly broken by this harassment, the deceased girl consumed poison on January 9. When her health worsened, she was admitted to a hospital, where she died on January 19.

Post which a video of the deceased girl narrating her ordeal, while hospitalised, went viral on social media. The local wing of Bharatiya Janata Party alleged that this was a case of illegal conversion, which the police have not included in the registered First Information Report (FIR).

However, the police in its statement said that the student consumed poison allegedly because of the torture by the warden to clean rooms. They dismissed the conversion angle to the case. While in the High Court hearing, the deceased girl's parents have confirmed that they were forced to convert to Christianity.

The video of the deceased, which went viral on social media, was shared by the Tamil Nadu BJP leader Annamalai. In the video, a person asked the deceased about the conversion bit, to which she allegedly confirmed it. Although, recently there have been allegations against the BJP of tampering with the video, in order to give the whole incident a communal angle. Read more about the case here.

Image Credit: NDTV