After NCPCR letter: Amid row, TN denies ‘conversion’ at school

Chennai: A team of government officials in Tamil Nadu has found no merit in the allegations of religious conversion of girls at a school hostel operated by the Church of South India (CSI) in Chennai, senior government officials familiar with the development told HT on Sunday.

The state government has decided to inform the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) — which has ordered removal of all girls studying at CSI Monahan School Girls Hostel in Chennai over conversion allegations — that it has been misguided in the case, senior officials said.

“All the girls studying in this school are Christians, so where is the question of forced conversion?” said a senior official from the state’s social welfare department, requesting anonymity.

In a letter dated 9 September, NCPCR chairperson Priyank Kanoongo directed Tamil Nadu chief secretary and director general of police (DGP) that the “girls should be rescued from the CCI (Child Care Institution) within 24 hours, and must be produced before the Child Welfare Committee for the recording of their statements and proper counselling as per the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act, 2015.”

The NCPCR chairperson’s letter, a copy of which HT has accessed, further said that arrangements be made for rehabilitation of rescued girls either to their parental homes or any other suitable facility. It asked the state government to register a first information report (FIR) against the said “CCI and persons associated with it” to initiate proceedings under Section 42 of the JJ Act for “inhabiting the girls without registration”. The NCPCR also directed the government to submit an action taken report along with a copy of FIR, statement of children and their parents and relevant records within three days.

Additional director of the social welfare department SP Karthikaa led a team that also included child protection officers in Chennai to conduct enquiries in the school on Saturday, a senior official from the chief secretary’s office told HT on Sunday. “The team has spoken to the children, their parents and the school management and submitted a report to us.”

“First of all, parents pay hostel fees for their children to stay here, and so it is a residential school and not a CCI,” said the official. “A CCI is where children in need of care, safety and protection are sent to by the Child Welfare Committee so this case doesn’t come under the relevant sections of the Juvenile Justice Board.”

When officials went for a surprise inspection, 41 of the total 54 girls in the hostel were present. Most of the girls are from economically weaker and lower middle-class background and their parents pay a monthly fee of ₹300 for their hostel, said the official. “All of them are Christian students. We will be informing the NCPCR that they have been misguided and there is no religious conversion here.”

The NCPCR in its letter said they were in receipt of a report by the Tamil Nadu State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (TNSCPCR) dated September 9. The report stated that a team, led by TNSCPCR chairperson Saraswathi Rangasamy, was formed to conduct inspections at hostels attached to schools across Tamil Nadu.

The team conducted a surprise inspection at CSI Monahan School Girls Hostel on September 6, the NCPCR letter said.

“It is further stated that the said CCI was found to be unregistered and was lodging girls from poor family backgrounds who were then forced to follow Christianity,” the letter claimed. “The report states that the team also met the girls residing there who were seeking immediate help from them for their rescue and that they called the state child rights body on September 9 to inform them that they have not yet been rescued from the CCI and are being abused by the hostel warden.”

The official from the state’s social welfare department quoted above said the girls complained to them that their hostel warden was strict, gave them a lot of homework and did not let them play while they were fond of their principal.

“The school is yet to register the hostel under the Tamil Nadu Hostels and Homes for Women and Children (Regulation) Act, 2014,” the official said. “However, the school management which has been operating for close to four decades is planning to take action against the state child rights committee because they feel they are being targeted for being a minority institution.”

The NCPCR in its letter claimed that the state rights body has alleged that government authorities were not responding to their calls and that officials were supporting the CSI school management and preventing the rescue operations from taking place.

On the state government’s assertion that all children in the hostel were Christian, TNSCPCR chief Rangasamy said none of the girls at the hostel sported a bindi when they went to inspect.

“When I asked them if there are no Hindus among them, they responded saying they were not allowed to keep bindi, flowers and all the children were holding a Bible in their hands,” she said. “While we believe there were Hindu girls as well, but what can we do if they (government) say that they all are Christians.”

Rangasamy added that following the suicide of a Class 12 girl in a private school hostel campus in Kallakurichi district, the state child rights panel intensified its surprise checks in hostels attached to schools. The Kallakurichi private school, which was damaged due to the riots in July, had not registered its hostel, she added. “We were given a list of eight such school hostels in Chennai which are unregistered. This school (CSI) was the first in that list we inspected. They did not have basic amenities and along with that we found complaints of conversion.”

State BJP president K Annamalai on Saturday said the government has to take action against “forced conversions” and hoped that the case will not be diluted. “The NCPCR has taken due cognisance of forcible conversion activities in CSI…,” Annamalai said. “We hope that the Chief Secretary, DGP and Tamil Nadu state government will take appropriate action and safeguard the future of these children without diluting this case.”

A senior government official, however, said: “This whole case seems politically motivated.”