1 day Ago By Express News Service
MADURAI: The Class 12 student who died by suicide in Michaelpatti of Thanjavur’s Thirukattupalli did not take the extreme step due to pressure of religious conversion but stress created by the accused, the CBI submitted before the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday. Justice G Ilangovan was hearing the petition filed by Sister Sagaya Mary, the sole accused in the suicide case of M Lavanya, seeking to quash the chargesheet filed by the CBI in a Tiruchy court. The prosecution case was that the victim, a student at a Christian missionary school in Thanjavur, ended her life by suicide in January 2022 due to alleged mental stress created by the petitioner.
The girl was staying in an accommodation facility at the school. The Thirukattupalli police initially registered a case, which was re-registered by the CBI, and the central agency recently filed a final report/chargesheet. The CBI’s counsel submitted that they conducted inquiries with 141 persons, collected 265 documents and seized seven items in relation to the case.
The girl took the extreme step not due to the pressure of religious conversion but due to the pressure from the accused to perform other tasks. As she was engaged with these tasks, she could not focus on education, the CBI’s counsel said, adding that the chargesheet should not be quashed. Hearing the arguments, the court adjourned the case to September 26 for further hearing.
It may be noted that during the previous hearing, the petitioner’s counsel submitted that the summary of the final report did not cite anything other than four different statements of the deceased, who had vaguely referred to stray incidents of scolding and disciplinary measures by the petitioner. The counsel further said the re-registered case was baseless and misconceived as the statements of the deceased did not mention any acts of violence or torture by the petitioner. (Assistance for those having suicidal thoughts is available on TN’s health helpline 104 and Sneha’s suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050).
