The family of a 16-year-old girl, who allegedly died by suicide by jumping from the third floor of her hostel building, on Friday agreed to accept her body on Saturday after the Madras High Court asked a team of doctors from the prestigious JIPMER in Puducherry to analyse her autopsy report.
The family decided to take the body for cremation after justice N Sathish Kumar of the High Court pulled up the father for insisting that another post-mortem be conducted by a panel, which should include the family’s choice. The Supreme Court had on Thursday rejected the petitioner’s plea for another post-mortem and instead asked him to approach the high court.
The 16-year-old student, who belonged to the neighbouring Cuddalore district, was staying in the school hostel in Kallakurichi, and allegedly jumped to death on July 12. However, the family alleged foul play in the death and demanded action against the school management citing the girl’s suicide note in which she has blamed two teachers for “torturing her” and the postmortem report which spoke of injury marks in her body.
Five persons – two teachers named by the student in her suicide note and three from the management – have been arrested by the police. A re-post-mortem of the girl was done on July 19 following an order by the high court but the father insisted on another post-mortem in which a doctor of the family’s choice should be present.
"Don't you have faith in the High Court? The team of doctors to conduct the second post-mortem was constituted only by this court and not by the government. So there will be no room for any foul play. The truth will come out shortly. Wait till then,” justice Sathish Kumar said.
He also said while the court can understand the “pitiable plight of the parents,” at the same time, one should think about the future of thousands of students studying in the school.
The court, while asking a team of doctors to examine the post-mortem reports, directed them to submit a detailed report in a month’s time. During Friday’s hearing, the court also spoke about the violence inside the school during which several vehicles and buildings were damaged seeking to know who will compensate the management.
Hundreds of students and locals had converged outside the campus at around 10 am on July 17 and entered the premises forcibly by overpowering the police, who were outnumbered till additional personnel joined in quelling protests.
Television footage showed protesters pushing down barricades, entering the school premises, setting buses parked on fire, and vandalising school name boards – some were seen taking away the furniture as police looked on helplessly.
The police have now constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by a Deputy Inspector General (DIG) to probe the violence and “unearth entire conspiracy behind this incident, identify all the violators who are captured very well in the video footages, the persons who formed WhatsApp groups, spread false news which resulted in such rioting situation and take action as per law.”
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