TN girl suicide: Villagers meet collector; seek protection from 'vested interests'

A section of residents from the village where the school of the 17-year-old who died by suicide is located, on Friday, petitioned the Thanjavur District Collector complaining about “vested interests” trying to disturb “communal harmony” in the hamlet and demanded protection from them.

Over 30 men from Michaelpatti, which is home to the Sacred Heart Higher Secondary School, near Thirukkaatupalli handed over a letter to District Collector Dinesh Ponraj Oliver in which they explained that people from different faith were living in the village in harmony for decades and alleged that they are being pressurised to “speak against the school.”

They also claimed that “religious conversion” had nothing to do with the suicide of the 17-year-old student of the school who was staying in a hostel run by a Christian missionary. The girl, who consumed pesticides on January 9, died 10 days later on January 19 at the Thanjavur Medical College Hospital.

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While the police and education department officials say the girl died due to ‘torture” at the hands of the warden, the BJP has been alleging forced conversion for the student’s death. The suicide has made national headlines with the BJP demanding a CBI probe and planning to send a four-member team to visit the village for a spot inquiry.

The villagers, who spoke to the media after meeting the district collector, said the school has been functioning in the hamlet for the past 150 years and that they have not heard of anyone being forced to convert to Christianity.

In the letter, the villagers claimed that unidentified persons are “forcing us” to speak against the school and are making an attempt to foment trouble.

Also Read | TN girl suicide: BJP demands transfer of case to CBI as another video emerges

“The village has Hindus, Muslims, and Christians. We are all living in harmony. We don’t think forced conversion is the reason for the girl’s suicide. Our children also studied at the same school and they never faced any issues,” one of the villagers who met the collector said.

While seeking protection from “people coming from outside”, the villagers also sought a ban on visits by different kinds of groups. The development comes a day after a fresh video of the 17-year-old student in which she makes no mention of “forced conversion” emerged.

In the fresh video purportedly shot by BJP functionary Muthuvel, the girl had said she consumed pesticides as she was worried about performing in the plus-two exam due to pressure exerted on her by the warden to do all chores at the hostel like closing and opening the gates and ensuring that the motor is switched on and off every day.

The girl also replied in the negative to a question whether she was disallowed to wear a bindi in the Christian school. In a video shot by Muthuvel which was shared by Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai last week, the girl had said that she was asked to convert to Christianity by the warden two years back that her family refused to do so.

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