Charges of forced conversions at Chennai school untrue, says TN govt probe

The Tamil Nadu government has rejected allegations of forced conversions in a school in Tamil Nadu’s Royapettah, after the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) alleged that girl students were being forced to convert to Christianity at a school run by the Church of South India (CSI). A team of government officials who conducted an inspection at the CSI Monahan Girls Higher Secondary School in Chennai’s Royapettah, said that the students studying at the school have always been Christian. The inspection was carried out following the NCPCR’s letter to Tamil Nadu DGP Sylendra Babu and Chief Secretary V Irai Anbu on Friday, September 9, asking the government to take action against the school and evacuate the students, as they were lodged in the premises of an unregistered hostel.

On Saturday, Additional Director of the Social Welfare Department SP Karthikaa led a team, which also included child protection officers, to inspect the school and conduct an inquiry. When they went for the inspection, 41 students out of the total 54 were present. Most of them were from economically weaker, lower middle-class backgrounds, and according to the officials, all of them were Christian. The government inquiry has concluded that the students belonged to Christian families and there was no conversion.

“All the students in the hostel are from Christian families. There is no merit to the claim they are being converted during their time in that school. The school management asked the District Collector to give them a period of two months to register their hostel,” says Additional Chief Secretary, Social Welfare and Women Empowerment Department, Shambu Kallolikar. The team also spoke to the students, their parents, and the school management and submitted a report to the Chief Secretary’s office on Sunday, September 11.

The letter from the NCPCR had cited a report by the Tamil Nadu State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (TNSCPCR), which had started inspections of schools and hostels following the Kallakurichi student’s death. The state team had found that the Child Care Institution (CCI) attached to CSI Monahan School was unregistered during their inspection on September 6 and also found that the school was housing girls from poor economic backgrounds, who were then allegedly forced to follow Christianity.

Saraswathy Rangasamy, who headed the TNSPCR team that inspected these schools, told TNM, "In Chennai, only thirteen schools have hostels. Among them, five schools have registered these hostels, so we planned to inspect the remaining eight schools. We inspected two schools — one in Royapettah and another one in Mylapore. There were no issues in the Mylapore school. At the Royapettah school, the students claimed that they were being tortured and forced to convert to Christianity. I have not yet received a response from them (government) and officials of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) were incommunicado. They don't even pick phone calls," she complained.

Meanwhile, a senior official from the Social Welfare and Women Empowerment Department told TNM, “The Tamil Nadu government has ordered the reconstitution of TNSCPCR since it finds the commission is inefficient. Also, as the matter is sub-judice, we are not in contact with them to answer their queries.”

NCPCR chairperson Priyank Kanoongo had directed the Tamil Nadu government to rescue the students from the CCI within 24 hours, and asked that the girls be produced before the CWC for recording their statements and proper counselling as per the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act, 2015. The letter to the Tamil Nadu government from NCPCR had claimed that the hostel warden had abused students at the school. Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai on September 10, had urged the government to take action and safeguard the future of the children without diluting the case.