A court in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu has ordered a federal probe into the suicide of a girl inmate of a Catholic hostel allegedly after refusing to convert from her Hindu religion to Christianity.
The victim was a student of Sacred Heart Higher Secondary School in Michaelpatti in Thanjavur district, falling under Kumbakonam Diocese. She had consumed poison on Jan. 9 and died 10 days later at a hospital.
The Madurai bench of Madras High Court on Jan. 31 ordered India’s premier probe agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), to take over the investigation after the girl’s father, S. Muruganantham, said he had no faith in the state’s police, who had ruled out the “conversion angle.”
He said the police had refused to accept as evidence a video of his 16-year-old daughter alleging harassment at the Catholic institution, possibly for refusing to convert to Christianity.
Police maintained the victim’s statements recorded before a judicial magistrate as required by law did not mention any attempt to convert her. They had arrested hostel warden Sister Sahaya Mary for harassing the victim by making her do cleaning chores at the hostel.
The 62-year-old Sister Mary, a member of the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, has been in judicial custody since Jan. 18. Her lawyers are waiting to move a bail application since the case took a complicated turn after the father’s petition.
The basic legal maxim is that the person who is going to meet their maker shortly will not utter a lie. Even a conviction can be based solely on a dying declaration
Police claimed in court that they had investigated the suicide case from all possible angles. It was found that the victim preferred to stay at the hostel even during holidays to avoid being harassed at home by her stepmother.
The court, however, disagreed, saying the police should have examined the contents of the privately recorded video of the victim.
“In this case, there are three dying declarations, one given to the police, one given to the judicial magistrate and one privately recorded video,” it said.
“It is well settled that there can be more than one dying declaration. The basic legal maxim is that the person who is going to meet their maker shortly will not utter a lie. Even a conviction can be based solely on a dying declaration.”
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The allegations of religious conversion require detailed investigation to establish the truth, the court said.
The school is run by Christian missionaries, the court said, and quoted Bible verses to establish the Christian mission aims to make disciples of Jesus in all nations, “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
Church leaders who are closely monitoring the case told UCA News that they “have nothing to hide” and would “join the probe as was done during the police probe.”
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