The Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday filed a first information report into the alleged suicide case of a 17-year-old girl in Tamil Nadu’s Thanjavur district, reported ANI.
The FIR was registered a day after the Supreme Court allowed the central agency to continue its inquiry in the case. On February 4, Tamil Nadu Director General of Police C Sylendra Babu had filed an appeal against an order of the Madras High Court to transfer the case to the CBI.
The girl who died by suicide reportedly drank poison on January 9 and died 10 days later. Her father had alleged that she had been tortured after she refused to convert to Christianity. The girl’s parents have sought action against a nun who allegedly tried to convert her.
In an unverified video shared on social media last month, the girl could be purportedly seen saying that she had been harassed as her family had refused to convert to Christianity. The girl is seen saying that she was abused by her hostel warden. The minor also claimed that she was forced to clean the hostel and carry out administrative work. The police have arrested the hostel warden.
Thanjavur Superintendent of Police Ravali Priya Gandhapuneni, however, had said that there was no mention of attempted religious conversion in the initial complaint and the girl’s dying declaration. She added that the video recording was given to the police on January 20, a day after the girl died.
Justice GR Swaminathan of the Madras High Court, in his judgement, had said that there was “nothing inherently improbable” that an attempt at conversion had taken place. The judge had also referred to a statement of the Thanjavur superintendent of police that the conversion angle was not made out and said that the comment was not warranted.
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