Conversion row: Madras HC orders CBI probe into Thanjavur student death case

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New Delhi, Jan 31: The Madras High Court Bench here on Monday directed transferring the probe into the death by suicide of a 17-year-old girl, allegedly coerced to convert to Christianity, to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Justice G R Swaminathan ordered the transfer of the case after hearing the arguments of the petitioner, the girl's father and also the school management.

"This Court has a duty to render posthumous justice to the child. The foregoing circumstances cumulatively taken will definitely create an impression that the investigation is not proceeding on the right lines... I therefore direct the Director, Central Bureau of Investigation, New Delhi to assign an officer to take over investigation from the State Police," the court ruled.

CBI will undertake an independent investigation and shall not take into account any of the observations made in this order, the judge added.

The suicide of the plus two student stoked a row in the state with the BJP and Hindu organisations alleging that her death was triggered by an attempt to forcibly convert her to Christianity - a charge denied by the authorities and school management.

The plus-two girl of a missionary school in Thanjavur consumed poison on January 9 and breathed her last on January 19. Based on her declaration, the Thirukattupalli police arrested and remanded the school hostel warden. A video clip in this connection had gone viral.

Following the death, the Fransciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which runs the school in which the girl had studied, denied the allegation of forced conversion.

School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, claiming the charge to be very remote, recently said that an inquiry in all aspects is apace.

The victim's father had demanded a CB-CID investigation "but in the final hearing, the original prayer was given up and the request was for transfer of investigation to CBI," the court said.