In Tamil Nadu Schoolgirl's Suicide, BJP Panel Questions Government's Silence

Raising the pitch for justice to the Thanjavur juvenile girl, who died by suicide resisting an alleged attempt to convert her to Christianity, a four-member BJP fact-finding committee on Wednesday questioned Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin's silence on the issue and urged him to render justice to the “daughter” of the country.

The all-women panel, which concluded its interaction with the affected family members and officials on Tuesday, called upon the state government to be neutral and bring those responsible for the 17-year-old Class 12 student's death, to book.

"I don't know why the Chief Minister is silent over the issue, despite the girl herself saying that she was forced to get converted to Christianity,” Vijayashanti, a BJP leader from Telangana, who is part of the team, told reporters in Chennai.

"There's no need for us to say something that is non-existent or play politics. This (coercion) has been going on for about one-and-a-half years and the entire nation came to know about the reason for the girl's suicide after her video went viral," she further said.

It was unfortunate that children sent to best schools for learning are forced to get converted rather than being encouraged to learn. "This does not augur well for education," she said expressing sorrow over the student's suicide.

The teenager of a missionary school in Thanjavur consumed poison on January 9 and died on January 19.

Wondering what prevented the ruling DMK or the police from acting quickly on evidences, or even ascertain the cause of her suicide, she said that by blatantly denying conversion, the DMK government only proved that it was against the Hindus.

"You can support whichever religion you want but why go against one religion in particular," she sought to know and accused the DMK of attempting to alter the culture of Tamil Nadu.

Also, she claimed that the girl's father, who has been a member of the DMK for nearly a quarter century, is being intimidated by the party for raising the conversion issue. The committee would submit its report to BJP national president J P Nadda, she added.

Parliamentarian Sandhya Rai from Madhya Pradesh said the need for the committee to visit Thanjavur to ascertain the truth would not have arisen had the DMK government taken prompt action to arrest those responsible for the girl's death.

"But the DMK government is maintaining silence," she alleged and called upon the government to render justice to the "daughter" of the nation. Apart from arresting two wardens of the girl's hostel for which the license expired, Ms Rai demanded the state government provide Rs 1 crore compensation to the juvenile's family.

Chitra Tai Wagh of Maharashtra and Geetha Vivekananda of Karnataka are the other members of the team formed by Mr Nadda on January 27 to ascertain the facts and submit a report to him at the earliest.

Following a plea from the girl's father S Muruganantham, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on January 31 ordered a probe by the CBI into the suicide allegedly due to pressure for religious conversion.