TN girl's suicide: NCPCR probe finds school, cops guilty

New Delhi, March 6 (IANS) , The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has found shocking facts in its probe conducted in connection with the suicide of a 17-year-old class 12 student of Thanjavur district in Tamil Nadu. The school authorities allegedly tried to conceal the real reason that she was being forced to convert to Christianity.


The probe has also raised questions about the intentions of the Tamil Nadu Police.

The NCPCR has found that there was a possibility of tampering with the evidence by the school authorities and the crime scene was not sealed. The warden of the building, an accused, was not taken there to recreate the crime scene. It was a major lapse of the police.

"There might exist a possibility of tampering with the evidence in the absence of proper compliance with due procedure of law. It was also observed that the alleged crime scene was not sealed and cordoned off for the purpose of the investigation by the local police," read the report of the NCPCR accessed by IANS.

The report read that the police had failed to identify the person who sold the girl the chemical substance.

The NCPCR officials found that the school did not have any separate rooms and accommodation for the stay of children and that the hall in which the deceased girl was staying had been cleaned and necessary items like furniture, books, clothes, belongings of children etc were not there.

The NCPCR report has suggested that the local police didn't do a fair probe and did not follow due procedure.

"The Children Home where the girl stayed, didn't take her to hospital and waited for her parents. Before she was allowed to be taken to a hospital, the school authorities collected the fee from her mother," said a source quoting the report.

The NCPCR got to know that the school was cooking up stories that the deceased was having a step mother who forced her to take extreme step.

"The NCPCR was made aware how the minor girl was made to do official work of the CCI (school committee) by the warden like book keeping, accounting, store management etc and other work like cleaning the premises, washing toilets, opening the door etc. It was observed that the investigating authorities were somewhere trying to conceal material facts pertaining to the care given to the child while she was staying in the CCI and also ignored all the pleas made by the family to investigate regarding the minor being forced to convert to Christianity," read the report.

The NCPCR had on January 20, written a letter to the DGP, Tamil Nadu to initiate a probe into the matter and take action against the guilty persons. But the Tamil Nadu police didn't respond to the NCPCR.

The NCPCR had received around 3545 complaints regarding the matter to initiate a probe and bring out the truth.

The NCPCR formed a committee of three officials headed by Priyank Kanoongo, the Chairperson NCPCR, Madhulika Sharma, Advisor (Education), and Katyayani Anand, Consultant (Legal) which visited Thanjavur, in the last week of January.

The team gathered relevant documents from the authorities and parents of the girl.

The CBI had on February 15 lodged an FIR in the case.

The victim in an unverified video had alleged that she was being forced to convert to Christianity by her school authorities.