On Monday, the CBI, which took over the probe from the state police on the High Court’s orders, started its investigation.
The lady, whose household lived in Vadugappalayam village, in Ariyalur district, had been staying at a Christian missionary-run faculty hostel close to her faculty in Michaelpatti village, about 20 km from Thanjavur. Police stated that on January 7, she had requested for permission to go house, however the hostel administration denied her permission, telling her holidays for Pongal, which fell on January 14, had been anyway developing and she or he might go house then. However, on January 9, the lady consumed pesticides and fell sick, after which her dad and mom had been knowledgeable. On January 10, they took her house.
The following day, she was taken to an area clinic close to her house, however as her situation worsened, on January 15, she was taken to Thanjavur Medical College, the place docs discovered her liver had been severely broken. She died on January 19.
The subsequent day, P Muthuvel, the district secretary of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, launched a video of the lady wherein she is seen saying that two years in the past, an administrator from her faculty requested her dad and mom to transform to Christianity, however they refused. A male voice is heard asking if her issues started since then and she or he says, “Maybe”.
Muthuvel had entry to the lady, as she lay in a precarious situation in hospital, via her shut relative. A police probe would later discover that the video was shot at 10.30 am on January 17, two days earlier than her dying.
The BJP jumped proper in after the lady’s dying, in search of “justice for the girl”, with state president Annamalai calling conversion a “fast-growing poisonous plant” in Tamil Nadu. Even as police started probing the case and arrested Sahaya Mary, the hostel warden – who got here out on bail per week in the past – the BJP obtained the dad and mom to file a petition within the Madras High Court, which looked for the probe to be transferred to the CBI.
While the lady and her dad and mom did not point out the conversion cost of their detailed statements to the police earlier than her dying, within the weeks since then, extra strands have emerged – of the lady being allegedly tortured by her stepmother and of her being overworked in class.
Speaking to The Indian Express at his house, Muruganandam, 44, the lady’s father, dismissed doubts over the veracity of the video shot by the VHP chief.
The lady was one in every of his three kids from the primary marriage. After his spouse Kanimozhi died by suicide in 2013, he married once more and has a baby from his second marriage.
His spouse Saranya alleged that after they visited the lady at her hostel two years in the past, a day earlier than her Class 10 exams, Sahaya Mary tried to influence them to let the lady be a part of the convent. “She instructed us why not let our daughter be a part of them (the convent). She stated why marry, have kids after which tackle all the issues. She stated our daughter can be a part of them and stay peacefully like them. My husband obtained indignant and upset, in order that they pacified him earlier than we left the hostel,” she stated.
“Now we realise she was troubled a lot after that incident,” stated Muruganandam, clarifying that was the final time the college and the hostel broached the topic of conversion. He additionally stated he would not know if the college had been placing stress on her to transform.
In their statements to the police, the dad and mom had alleged that the lady was made to do “extra work” within the faculty and the hostel – one thing that can be borne out by the lady’s assertion to the police and the Justice of the Peace.
“They obtained her to do all of the work. She was troubled loads,” Muruganandam said. “On the morning of Christmas last year, I went there to bring her home, but they denied me permission. Later, she told us that they had made her cook for everyone in the hostel during the Christmas vacation. They had also been taking her to Trichy every month without our permission,” stated Saranya.
In her assertion recorded on the morning of January 16, the lady alleged Sagaya Mary took her to a “Trichy office” even after her mom objected. “She (Sahaya Mary) used to ask me and the other students to clean the hostel, clear the ground of grass, to wash the premises, etc. I could not concentrate on my studies,” the lady stated, including that this contributed to “mental stress”. On the night of January 9, she stated, she consumed poison when she was “asked to do more and more work” and likewise scolded.
A senior officer who was a part of the investigation stated, “We interviewed about 50 students and they all said this girl was the best of them all. Since she was brilliant, Sahaya Mary, the warden, relied on her to handle the hostel’s account books and ration records. The monthly trips to Trichy were to the church office to submit the accounts. The other students said that while they only got gardening work, the girl got to handle work in the office too. But none of them about conversion attempts – and majority of the students are Hindus.”
The police probe has revealed one other angle to the case. In July 2020, a name was made by an in depth relative of the lady to the ChildLine service, alleging that the lady was being harassed by her stepmother. Following the decision, officers from ChildLine had visited the lady’s house to talk to the sufferer.
Muruganandam dismissed it as a baseless cost. “My daughter was cooking rice and the pressure cooker exploded. The lid hit her on her face and she was injured, but they interpreted it as torture,” stated Muruganandam, pointing to stains on the kitchen wall to show his level.
While the college and the church administration refused to touch upon the case, Lourd Xavier, 48, former panchayat president of Michaelpatty who’s concerned in actions of the church and the college administration, stated the college has by no means needed to face a conversion allegation earlier than. On the lady, he stated, “Everyone loved her. She was efficient and good at studies. When she attained puberty, the Christian sisters organized the rituals as per Hindu customs. She would have joined BSc Nursing next year and they had made all arrangements for her. One of her teachers was paying her fee as well.” Xavier was among the many half-a-dozen individuals, together with a trainer and elders from the village, who visited the lady within the hospital a day earlier than her dying.
“One of the academics instructed her, ‘You are such a great scholar… Why did you do that?’ Her eyes welled up with tears. The trainer consoled her and stated she ought to come again quickly. She stated, ‘No sir, I will not be coming again to the college once more’,” Xavier stated, including the lady’s stepmother was by her bedside that day.
The lady’s dad and mom refuted Xavier’s claims that the sisters had organized her coming of age rituals. “We organized an event at home, where we invited some 500 people. Their claims are false,” stated Muruganandam.
The dad and mom additionally denied that one of many academics paid the lady’s price.“We paid Rs 7,000 as annual fee, Rs 2,500 as hostel fee and a monthly mess fee of Rs 700. We never asked for their help,” she stated, exhibiting the receipts.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
