The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the death by suicide of a minor girl in Tamil Nadu's Thanjavur. The girl was allegedly coerced to convert to Christianity. She died after consuming poison last month.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Bela M Trivedi issued notice on the appeal filed by the Tamil Nadu DGP challenging the Madras High Court's order directing the CBI to probe the suicide case.
The court told the state government to not make the case a prestige issue by opposing the HC order for a CBI probe and made it clear that the CBI should also probe the allegations of forced conversion. It also asked the police to provide all the evidence collected until now to the CBI.
The top court said that there are two aspects of the matter, one is there are certain observations recorded in the impugned judgment and the second is regarding the final order directing probe by CBI. The apex court said it might not be appropriate for it to interject in the investigation of the CBI but it will issue notice on the first aspect.
"Issue notice returnable in three weeks... In the meanwhile, the investigation in terms of the impugned order to continue," the bench said.
Earlier on January 31, the High Court had transferred the probe from police to the central agency.
The girl had died by suicide after consuming poison last month. In a video, the girl alleged that the hostel warden had forced her to clean the hostel and do maintenance work. The hostel warden has been arrested on charges of abetting suicide and under the Juvenile Act. The victim's parents have demanded an investigation into conversion allegations.
With PTI Inputs
READ MORE: Madras High Court orders CBI probe into Thanjavur girl's suicide case
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