Sexual abuse at fake NCC camp | HC directs legal services authority chairperson to inspect school

Madras High Court orders investigation into sexual abuse at private school, suspect's suicide, and compensation for victims.

The Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the chairperson of Krishnagiri district legal services authority to visit a private school where many girl children had been reportedly subjected to sexual abuse by conducting a fake National Cadet Corps (NCC) camp between August 5 and 9.

First Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice D. Krishnakumar and Justice P.B. Balaji ordered that the chairperson must interact with the victim students as well as their parents and submit a detailed report to the court on September 4 listing out the measures that had to be taken immediately.

The interim orders were passed on a public interest litigation petition filed by advocate A.P. Suryaprakasam who had sought a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the issue since the prime suspect A. Sivaraman as well as his father had died under “mysterious circumstances”.

However, Advocate General P.S. Raman and State Public Prosecutor Hasan Mohamed Jinnah told the court that the suspect Sivaraman had committed suicide at a government hospital, where he was admitted pursuant to his arrest, by consuming rat poison which he had concealed in his undergarments.

The law officers said the suspect was suffering from suicidal tendencies for long and he had attempted to take his life once in July. When the police went to arrest him in connection with the sexual abuse case, he attempted to escape and, in the process, broke his leg leading to his hospitalisation.

As far as the suspect’s father was concerned, the A-G said that he had fallen down from his moped in an inebriated mood and died due to cardiac arrest. Stating that the aged man was a habituated to liquor, he said CCTV visuals of him falling down from the moped on a public road were available.

The A-G said that the final post-mortem reports of both the bodies were yet to be received by the police and that he would submit the reports before the court on September 4 to prove that there was no foul play behind the two deaths and that they were purely coincidental.