Conversion-suicide row: ABVP natl gen secy among 35 held for holding protest in Chennai

ABVP national general secretary Nidhi Tripathy from Delhi was among 35 arrested in Chennai on Monday night for trying to hold a protest in front of CM's residence, demanding fair investigation into the suicide of Thanjavur school girl Lavanya.

All 35 were remanded in judicial custody till February 28 after much of a courtroom drama in which additional public prosecutor Edwin had to appear as magistrate refused to buy the arguments of the city police. 

It all started around 12.30 pm on Monday when ABVP national general secretary Nidhi Tripathi (28) and state secretaries Muthuramalingam and Hari Krishnan tried gather along with 32 others in front of Chief Minister M K Stalin's residence on Chitaranjan Salai, Alwarpet. 

While they were stopped by police a few metres away and taken to a community hall for inquiry, they were made to undergo Covid test and taken to the Government Royalettah Hospital for medical test. 

When they were produced before the 18th magistrate Subramanian at Saidapet court around 9.50 pm, the magistrate reportedly left claiming that the accused were brought late to the court. Immediately, T Nagar DCP Hari Kiran Prasad was alerted and he rushed to the court and held talks with the magistrate, after which the latter agrees to hear the matter around 10.30 pm. 

After inquiring the protesters, the DCP too was inquired by the magistrate and the official argued with the CCTV footage retrieved from Chitaranjan Salai. 

While the magistrate refused to remand them claiming that they were students, the DCP argued that not all of them were students and demanded that their ID cards must be produced. 

Meanwhile, additional public prosecutor Edwin reached the court and argued that the protesters should have sought permission from the election commission since the model code of conduct is in place for the upcoming local body elections but it was not done. 

Finally, the magistrate remanded all 35 of them to judicial custody till February 28.

Meanwhile, ABVP on its Twitter handle shared clips of their members being cleared from the protest site by police on Monday and called it vendetta politics. 

Lavanya, a Class 12 girl of a government aided school in Michaelpatti village in Thanjavur consumed pesticide and ended her life in January 9.

In her dying declaration, she charged the hostel warden Sahaya Mary – since arrested – of forcing her to clean the rooms.

Meanwhile, BJP and Hindu outfits alleged that Lavanya took the extreme step after being forced to convert, which the district police denied. Following her death, a controversy arose over the girl committed suicide owing to pressure to convert to Christianity and BJP and allies have been holding protests demanding justice for Lavanya.

A CBI enquiry into the death of the student is already ordered by the High Court.