[Thanjavur girl suicide] Madras High Court transfers investigation to CBI

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Monday transferred the investigation into the suicide of Thanjavur girl Lavanya to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) [Muruganantham v. The Director General of Police]..- A class 12 student committed suicide, and in a private video alleged that a correspondent from her school spoke to her parents about conversion to Christianity.- When the Superintendent of police said in a press conference that the conversion angle was ruled out, the child’s father moved the High Court seeking a transfer of the investigation.- The petitioner submitted that the education minister and two other “high ranking ministers” had given their opinions, absolving the school authorities of conversion.- The school vehemently denied any allegations of attempts to convert.- Justice GR Swaminathan who heard the father's petition opined that the investigation was not on the right lines and thus, transferred the case to the CBI.The single-judge had reserved orders in the case on Friday, after hearing all parties at length..The deceased child had consumed pesticide when she was in the hostel. The judicial magistrate recorded her dying declaration.In her police statement as well as in her statement before the judicial magistrate, the child directly and in unambiguous terms accused the hostel warden of burdening her with non-academic chores as a result of which, she consumed the pesticide.At a later stage, a private video implicating the school’s correspondent began circulating on social media. When the same was brought to the notice of the Superintendent of Police, she told a reporter that in the preliminary enquiry, the religious conversion angle was not made out.This led to the petitioner losing faith in the investigation and thus, he moved the High Court..The Additional Public Prosecutor argued that the Court would not be justified to interfere with the investigation as it was not for the Court to micro-manage it since the province of an investigation is exclusively reserved for the executive..The counsel for the school denied allegations of attempting to convert the deceased child to Christianity and argued that certain groups were trying to besmirch the school’s fair reputation..The single-judge was of the opinion that the investigation was not proceeding on the right lines, especially since a high ranking minister had taken a stand on the matter. Hence, the investigation cannot continue with State Police, the Court said.“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,” the judgment said..The Court also noted that the petitioner was justified in entertaining the impression of bias since by stating that the conversion angle stood ruled out, the SP had brushed aside the petitioner's complaint made in writing which was backed by the child’s video.“The Superintendent of Police probably forgot the virtues of silence.. I fail to understand as to why the Thanjavur Superintendent of Police reacted as if she had come in contact with a live electric wire,” the Court said in its order..Noting that there was nothing “inherently improbable” in the allegation that there was an attempt at conversion, the judge noted that the matter called for an investigation into the claim’s veracity, not an outright rejection..To decide on the matter of transferring the case, a judgment of the Supreme Court in Mithilesh Kumar Singh v. State of Rajasthan was relied on, where the top court was also concerned with the death of a young student.In this case, it was held that, “though transfer of investigation from the State police to CBI can be allowed only in rare and exceptional circumstances when fair investigation by the State police does not inspire confidence on account of any external influence or otherwise, there can be no cast iron parameters and whether an exceptional situation has arisen may be determined by the court by taking an overview of the fact situation of a particular case.”.Thus, Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation, was asked to assign an officer to take over investigation from the State Police.The trial court was also directed to dispose of the warden’s plea for bail based on the available materials since her continued incarceration may not serve any purpose..Before parting with the judgment, Justice Swaminathan narrated a personal experience. “The Ganesha idol which I worship daily has been named as Fr. Pillaiyar. Because it was gifted to me by the learned Senior Counsel who appeared for the Congregation. Dr. Fr. Xavier Arul Raj, the Senior Counsel and Br. Benitto, the counsel on record are genuine ambassadors of interfaith fraternity. When the learned Senior Counsel asserted that he does not believe in conversion, I knew that he was speaking from his heart.”He ended the judgment expressing hope that the CBI would bring out the truth to whether Sister Saghayamary and Sister Rachel Mary were made from the same fibre as the Senior Counsel..Advocate M Karthikeya Venkatachalapathy appeared for the petitioner. The Respondents were represented by Additional Public Prosecutor T. Senthil Kumar. Senior Advocate Dr. Fr. Xavier Arulraj along with advocates Amala Irudhaya Mary and Menitto appeared for the school..[Read Judgment]