"Not Prestige Issue": Supreme Court To Tamil Nadu On Suicide Probe By CBI

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the police plea against a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the suicide of a 17-year-old school girl in Tamil Nadu. But the court said that the central agency can continue probe in the case where the student was allegedly coerced to convert to Christianity

The teen had died by suicide after consuming poison at her home in Thanjavur on January 9 and died 10 days later. In a video, the girl alleged that the hostel warden had forced her to clean the hostel and do maintenance work.

The hostel warden has been arrested under the Juvenile Act apart from charges of abetting suicide.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Bela M Trivedi issued notice on the appeal filed by the Tamil Nadu DGP challenging the Madras HC order.

The top court said that there are two aspects of the matter, one is there are certain observations recorded in the impugned judgment and the second is regarding the final order directing probe by CBI.

"Issue notice returnable in three weeks... In the meanwhile, the investigation in terms of the impugned order to continue," the bench said. The high court on January 31 had transferred the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation.

The girl's parents allege that there had been an attempt to convert the family to Christianity and are seeking an investigation in the matter.

The allegations have taken a political turn with the BJP asking for an investigation and urging the state's DMK government to punish those responsible.

State BJP president K Annamalai, sharing the video of the minor girl on Twitter, called for a fair investigation and the arrest of those responsible. Describing conversion as a rapidly spreading poisonous plant, Mr Annamalai urged the state government to "control" it.