The Tamil Nadu government on Thursday filed a plea in the Supreme Court against the Madras High Court ordering a CBI investigation into the suicide of a 17-year-old student, allegedly due to pressure for religious conversion.
The state, through DGP, challenged the validity of orders passed by a single-judge bench of the Madurai bench of the High Court, which also made stinging remarks against the Tamil Nadu government and Thanjavur district police over their attempts to “derail the investigation.”
The petition filed by advocate Joseph Aristotle questioned the order, with the police and the education minister ruling out conversion angle in the case.
The father of the deceased also filed a caveat urging the top court not to pass any order in the matter without granting him a hearing.
The 17-year-old girl, who was studying at Sacred Heart Higher Secondary School in Michaelpatti, consumed poison on January 9 and died on January 19 at a hospital. Her video, alleging an attempt by her hostel warden to convert her to Christianity two years ago, had gone viral on social media.
The girl’s father filed the petition on January 21 seeking a CB-CID probe but he, subsequently, sought a probe by CBI.
Her case was also raised by BJP leader and advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay in a PIL in the top court, claiming the Centre and states have failed to control the menace of deceitful religious conversion, though it is their duty under Articles 14, 21, 25 of the Constitution. His PIL sought a direction to the Centre and states to control fraudulent religious conversion and those carried out by intimidation, threat, deceit, and through gifts and monetary benefits.
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Published 03 February 2022, 13:22 IST
