Chennai: The Madras High Court on Monday ordered a re-postmortem following a complaint filed by the father of the Class XII student who allegedly committed suicide by jumping from the third floor of a private school’s hostel on July 13.
Justice Satish Kumar ordered a re-postmortem by a team of doctors and permitted the petitioner and his advocate K. Kesavan to be present without any hindrance during the proceedings.
The judge came down heavily on the protesters who had instigated violence demanding justice for the girl and said that the actions of the protesters on Sunday had led to the belief that Tamil Nadu is a lawless state.
He asked the police to consider this as a test case and ensure that action is taken against all the perpetrators of violence. He said that stringent action must be taken to send a signal to all those who are likely to indulge in such violence in the future.
The judge said that in future if any suicide occurs in educational institutions, the case must be taken up by the CB-CID and the postmortem conducted by a team of three doctors. The judge also recorded the statement of the state public prosecutor that the CB-CID took over the case on Sunday.
Justice Satish Kumar restrained the girl’s parents from giving interviews to the media taking into consideration the plea by the police that it might lead to disruptions. He directed the parents to accept the girl’s body after the re-postmortem and to conduct her funeral peacefully.
Justice Kumar said that the peaceful agitation suddenly taking a violent turn was not sporadic and “appeared like organized crime”. He asked the police to form special teams to identify the mischief makers and bring them before the law.
The court directed the police to take action against those who were conducting parallel investigations and trials on social media on the girl’s death and asked why the police and courts were there if people could take the law into their hands and indulge in hooliganism.
–IANS