Senior government officials acquainted with the development informed HT on Sunday that a team of Tamil Nadu government officials had found no merit in the claims that girls had been converted to religion at a school hostel run by the Church of South India (CSI) in Chennai.
On Saturday, a team from Chennai that included child protection officers and the additional director of the social welfare department SP Karthikaa conducted investigations in the school.
Of the 54 total girls staying at the hostel, 41 were present when officials walked in for a surprise check. According to the official, the majority of the girls come from lower middle-class and economically disadvantaged backgrounds, and their parents contribute $300 a month toward their lodging.
The Tamil Nadu State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (TNSCPCR) submitted a report on September 9 that was received by the NCPCR, according to the letter. According to the report, a team under the direction of TNSCPCR chairperson Saraswathi Rangasamy was assembled to carry out inspections at dorms associated with schools throughout Tamil Nadu.
On September 6, according to the NCPCR letter, the team conducted a surprise inspection at the CSI Monahan School Girls Hostel.
The CCI was discovered to be unlicensed and was housing girls from low-income families who were later coerced into adopting Christianity, according to the letter. According to the report, the team also spoke with the girls living there who were pleading with them for immediate assistance in order to be rescued. On September 9, they called the state child rights organization to let them know that the girls had not yet been rescued from the CCI and were still being mistreated by the hostel warden.
The state’s social welfare department employee who was cited earlier claimed that the girls complained to them that their dormitory warden was tough, assigned them a lot of homework, and forbade them from playing even if they liked their principal.
According to the 2014 Tamil Nadu Hostels and Homes for Women and Children Act, the school has not yet registered the hostel, the official stated. However, the school administration, which has been in place for almost 40 years, plans to pursue legal action against the state child rights committee because they believe they are the subject of discrimination because they are a minority institution.
In their letter, the NCPCR asserted that the state rights organization had complained that government officials were allegedly ignoring their requests, siding with the CSI school administration, and impeding rescue efforts.
According to TNSCPCR chief Rangasamy, none of the females in the hostel were wearing bindis when they went to inspect, contrary to the state government’s claim that all of the youngsters in the hostel were Christians.
Rangasamy further stated that the state child rights commission increased its surprise inspections of the private school hostel site where a Class 12 girl committed suicide in the Kallakurichi area. She noted that the hostel of the private Kallakurichi school, which suffered damage as a result of the riots in July, had not been registered. On Saturday, K Annamalai, the state BJP president, urged the government to take action against “forced conversions” and expressed optimism that the case would not be compromised.
News Mania Desk
