Kerala: Parents of girl in suicide pact demand CBI probe, Centre vows action

Thiruvananthapuram/New Delhi, May 13: Parents of the three SAI trainees, who survived an attempted suicide bid after alleged harassment by seniors, on Wednesday demanded a CBI probe into the incident even as the Centre vowed to take necessary action to prevent recurrence of such episodes.

The three young girls are undergoing treatment at a hospital in Alapuzha in Kerala after they consumed a poisonous fruit in an apparent suicide pact at a training centre of the Sports Authority of India(SAI) in the coastal town. [Kerala Shocker: Harassment by seniors, athlete commits suicide, 3 other hospitalised]

"We are not satisfied with the probe conducted by the Sports Authority of India, Director General and the police inquiry being conducted," mother of one of the girls, who tried to end her life said.

She also dismissed the SAI DG's preliminary report that there was no ragging, saying it was 'baseless'. "The report is baseless. Attempt is being made to protect those responsible for the incident.

They should be brought before law. We need CBI probe, otherwise the case will be sabotaged," she added.

The deposition of the three girls undergoing treatment had not yet been taken and their suicide note, jointly signed by all the four, had not been taken into account, she alleged adding, they were prepared to even approach the court for getting justice to their wards.

Of the four girls who consumed the poisonous fruit, one of them -- 15-year-old Aparna Ramabhadraban -- had died. The girls had alleged mental and physical harassment by some seniors.

The students of the Water Sports Centre at Alapzuha are undergoing counselling sessions to get over the trauma of the incident.

The Union Government termed as "shocking and tragic" the incident and asserted in the Lok Sabha that urgent action would be taken to prevent such happenings in the future.

The incident shows the urgent need to strengthen SAI's training system and government was looking into the recommendations made by SAI Director General who enquired the matter, Minister of State for Sports Sarbananda Sonowal said in a statement.

"The shocking and tragic incident that occurred at SAG Water Sports Centre, Alappuzha does point out an urgent need to strengthen the SAI training system," the statement, read out by his ministerial colleague Rajiv Pratap Rudy, said.

Noting that several external probes are currently underway including police investigation, preliminary enquiry conducted by the district administration, enquiry by State Sports Secretary and enquiry by State Human Rights Commission, it said "hence it would not be appropriate to make any specific comment in this regard."

After probing the incident, SAI's DG has made many suggestions like having a "robust institutional mechanism" to maintain close rapport and co-ordination with state sports department.

Another suggestion was to set up an expert committee to study the authority's existing training system, which should submit a report along with recommendations within two months, the statement said.

"We would examine these suggestions and take necessary action at the earliest to ensure that such incidents do not occur in the future," it said.

PTI