HC directs parents of Kallakurichi schoolgirl to hand over her phone to police for analysis

Parents reluctant to part with it, say police

The Madras High Court on Monday directed the parents of the Kallakurichi schoolgirl, whose death on a private school campus on July 13 sparked large-scale riots on July 17, to hand over her mobile phone to the police for analysis. The direction was issued after the police complained of reluctance on the part of the parents.

Appearing before Justice V. Sivagnanam, State Public Prosecutor Hasan Mohammed Jinnah said the parents had not handed over the girl’s mobile phone so far despite several requests made by the police officials as well as a direction issued by the court to them during the last hearing of the case on September 29.

The SPP said that the parents could not feign ignorance about the mobile phone since the police had recorded her mother’s statement on video wherein she had admitted that the girl’s phone was available with her father. He said the police had also found that the phone had been used last on October 26.

On the other hand, advocate R. Sankarasubbu, representing the girl’s father, insisted that the police should share the post-mortem reports as well as the investigation reports with the parents since the latter firmly believed that their daughter had been murdered on the school campus and it was not a case of suicide.

The SPP, however, opposed the plea and said that the investigation was under way and that any material could be shared only after the filing of the final report before the court concerned. After hearing them both, the judge directed the parents to first hand over the phone and said a call on sharing of reports would be taken after that.

Further, he directed the police to analyse the phone and file a report before the court by December 15. Earlier, the SPP submitted individual status reports on behalf of the Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department which was investigating the death and a Special Investigation Team probing the subsequent riots and arson.