TN School Girl Death Case: Re-Post Mortem Report To Be Filed in SC on Thursday

The 17 year-old-girl studying in class 12 in Tamil Nadu was found dead on 13 July in the hostel premises.

Tamil Nadu School Girl Death Case: Protest and violence demanding justice over the death of a 17-year-old girl, studying in Class 12 in a private residential school in Chinnasalem.

(Photo: PTI)

A team of doctors which conducted the re-autopsy of the body of the 17-year-old girl who was found dead at a private residential school in Tamil Nadu, will file the report in Supreme Court on Thursday, 21 July.

The re-autopsy was ordered by Madras High Court which also directed the authorities to film the re-postmortem.

The 17 year-old-girl, studying in class 12 in a private residential school in Chinnasalem, was found dead on 13 July in the hostel premises.

The post-mortem process took more than three hours to get completed in Kallakurichi Government Hospital. It was done by a team of doctors consisting of Villupuram doctor Geetanjali, Trichy doctor Juliet Jayanthi, Salem doctor Gokulnath and pathologist Santakumar.

The case is now being handled by Crime-Branch Crime Investigation Department (CB-CID). Therefore, CB-CID SP Ziaul Haque and ADSP Gomati were also present during body inspection.

While ordering the re-postmortem, the court also allowed deceased's father to be present during the autopsy.

Why was the Re-Autopsy Ordered?

The family had refused to accept the first post-mortem report submitted to the court by the police department. The parents of the 17-year-old from Cuddalore district asserted that the autopsy and the version given by the school to be fake and baseless.

The girl, a resident on the third floor of the hostel, was earlier suspected to have ended her life by jumping from the top floor. However, a post-mortem report reportedly indicated that she had sustained injuries before her death.

The deceased’s mother claimed that her daughter’s body was largely swollen and that there were injury marks all over. She further added that when she and her husband visited the school, there was no evidence of her falling from the third flood.

“There was not even a single drop of blood there and school management is not answering our questions and I firmly believe that the school has something to do with her death,” she alleged.

Meanwhile, the father of the deceased also questioned the autopsy report and asked why the school authorities did not rush his daughter to the hospital. Submitting to the High Court that they had no role in the violence that ensued on 17 July, the father thanked the court which ordered another post-mortem.

The father also appealed to the Supreme Court that a doctor of his choice be permitted to be part of a team of experts ordered by the Madras High Court to conduct a fresh postmortem on her body. However, the apex court rejected his plea on Tuesday, but agreed to hear the plea of the father against the high court order on 21 July.

Five people, including the headmaster, secretary, principal, and two teachers of the private school were arrested in connection with the death and remanded in Salem central jail for 15 days.

Violence Erupts on Sunday

On Sunday, chaos had ensued in Chinnasalem as protesters set fire to vehicles and pelted stones. As many as 70 men, who were involved in the violence, have been arrested, Director General of Police C Sylendra Babu told reporters.

The police had opened fire in the air at least twice to restrain the violent mob, who pushed down barricades, stormed the premises of the 'international' school near Chinnasalem, and set parked buses on fire.

In the wake of the violence, the Tamil Nadu government shifted the Collector and superintendent of police of Kallakurichi district, reported news agency PTI.

(With inputs from PTI.)