NCPCR chief to visit Thanjavur on Jan 30, 31 to probe TN girl suicide

Chennai, Jan 29 (IANS) National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) chairperson Priyank Kanoongo will visit Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu on January 30 and 31 to inquire into the suicide of a plus two girl.

The BJP and other right wing organisations claimed that the girl committed suicide after she was forced by her school management to convert to Christianity.

The NCPCR in a statement said that the National Chairperson will visit the school, meet the parents of the girl, doctors, and her classmates.

The Child Rights Body in the statement also said that the state government has not extended any support to the commission citing election protocol as the state is going for Urban local body polls on February 19 and the notification for the same has been released.

Meanwhile, the residents of Michaelpatti in Thanjavur where the Holy Trinity school is situated petitioned the Thanjavur district collector that the school was doing a yeoman service to the people of the area without any considerations on religious lines.

The villagers said that the school had more than 60 per cent of the students from the Hindu community and the school hostel also has a majority of Hindus. The residents in the petition said that vested interests were trying to dislodge the communal harmony in the village.

Azeez, a farmer in the village while speaking to IANS said: "We are 'practicing Muslims' and my children are studying in the school but there has never been any allegation that the school is trying to convert the students' religion. The school has been functioning in this village since the past 163 years and has helped a lot of people from downtrodden backgrounds to come up in life and the BJP and the Hindu outfits are trying to give a communal angle to the unfortunate incident of the Plus two student committing suicide."

The teachers and parents in unison said that the school never attempted any conversion and that the issue has to be nipped in the bud to prevent any communal disharmony in the village.

In a related incident, the Christian People's Movement and a group of residents have filed a complaint with the Thanthonimalai police station against the Tamil Nadu BJP state president K. Annamalai for "communalising" the issue.

CPI-M Tamil Nadu state secretary K. Balakrishnan also said that the girl had never complained of any conversion attempts and the state government should look into the matter and if required, register a case against BJP leader K. Annamalai for disrupting communal harmony.

The BJP woman wing national president and Coimbatore South MLA, Vanathi Sreenivasan have in the meanwhile met party national president J.P. Nadda at New Delhi and apprised him of the developments.

The BJP has already constituted a three-member all-women leaders team to look into the matter and to report it to the party national committee on the allegations against the school regarding conversion of the student.