Kallakurichi tragedy: After HC order, parents agree to receive body; last rites on Saturday

Nine days after the death of a 17-year-old Class XII girl on the premises of a private school in Tamil Nadu’s Kallakurichi, parents of the teen have agreed to receive her body on Saturday and conduct her last rites.

Also watch: EXCLUSIVE: Kallakurichi parents agree to receive daughter’s dead body

The girl’s parents had earlier urged the Madras High Court to allow another postmortem of their deceased daughter by a doctor of their choice. After the high court turned down their request, the parents moved the Supreme Court, which again asked them to withdraw the petition and seek relief from the Madras High Court.

A second post-mortem of the girl was conducted on July 19 at the Kallakurichi Government Medical College and Hospital, after her family had staged a protest and refused to receive her body. The high court, however, had refused to entertain the parents’ request of a doctor of their choice to be included in the team of doctors participating in the second postmortem.

On Friday (July 22), the Madras High Court while hearing a petition by the state government seeking direction to the girl’s parents to receive her body, asked the latter when they would like to take the body for the final rites.

After the girl’s parents agreed to receive the body on Saturday, high court judge justice N Sathishkumar directed them to receive it before 7 am on the said day and complete the final rites before 6pm.

Also read: In Kallakurichi village, parents and students in search of alternative schools

The police would hand over the body to the girl’s family on Saturday morning, after which it would be taken to her native place Veppur in Cuddalore district. While Inspector General of Police(Central) Santhosh Kumar would take care of the security in the locality to prevent any untoward incident and protests, Inspector General of Police(West Zone) R Sudhakar will follow the ambulance carrying the body till the Kallakurichi district border. IG(North) PC Thenmozhi would travel with the girl’s body to Veppur.

Why did parents demand another autopsy?

The girl had died after allegedly falling from the third floor of the school building on July 13.

The girl’s family had approached the Madras High Court with the allegation that her death was suspicious in nature and that they were not allowed to participate in the first postmortem.

“…on the wall of the hostel veranda 10 feet away from the place of the occurrence, there were blood stains. Her blood-stained palm mark there also shows there was a struggle between her and somebody else. My family was not allowed to see the hostel room, but there were blood stains on the hostel stairs. I was also not allowed to meet her roommates,” the girl’s father alleged in the petition filed before the Madras High Court.

In his petition, he also alleged that he wasn’t allowed to speak with his daughter’s roommates.

Also read: Kallakurichi school mystery: Multiple students dead; inhuman treatment alleged

“All is not well with the school administration. They wanted to hush up the matter of a cognizable case,” the girl’s father said in the petition.

He also that there were visible injuries all over the body of his daughter. “Hence, in order to ascertain the cause of death, it is just and necessary to get another postmortem done by a team of doctors to unearth the real truth behind the suspicious death of my daughter…” he said in his petition.

What did the high court say?

After the girl’s parents approached the Madras High Court for the second time, the court directed the JIPMER hospital in Puducherry to examine the second autopsy report of the girl and file a report before it within 30 days.