The Tamil Nadu State Minorities Commission will wait for the investigation into the Thanjavur schoolgirl’s suicide to be completed and for the State government to be apprised of the details before taking any action, its chairman S. Peter Alphonse said.
BJP stages protest demanding CBI probe into student’s death
“We will wait and see what the court has to say on the case on Friday,” Mr. Alphonse told The Hindu.
He added that if the Commission received a complaint from any of the aggrieved parties - the Christian institution where the girl studied, or even the Christian community in general, against the targeted attack on them by the Tamil Nadu BJP, it would issue summons.
With the Tamil Nadu BJP and its president K. Annamalai vociferously claiming that the girl died by suicide as she was being forced to convert to Christianity by the school authorities, Mr. Alphonse said this was a conspiracy by the BJP to sow religious hatred in Tamil Nadu.
In another video, the veracity of which is being examined, the girl is heard saying she had resorted to the extreme step as she was unable to concentrate on her studies due to the daily chores she was being asked to carry out at the hostel.There is no mention of religious conversion.
Mr. Alphonse said if it was found that the earlier video had been tampered with, and Mr. Annamalai had resorted to “creating religious hatred and divide using an edited video”, the panel would hold an inquiry. “But we will wait for the investigation to be completed,” he added.
(Assistance for overcoming suicidal thoughts is available on the State’s health helpline 104 and Sneha’s suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050.)
