TN minorities body seeks action against TNCPCR for ‘false charges of conversion at school’

Days after the Tamil Nadu government rejected all the allegations over “forced conversion” at a  Chennai school made by National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), the Tamil Nadu minority welfare commission visited the Monahan Girls Higher Secondary School in Royapettah on Wednesday, September 14. S Peter Alphonse, Chairman of the State Minorities Commission with commission members visited the school and held discussions with students and parents.

After the discussions, Alphonse conducted a press meet where he said that the allegations against the school were made just to create hate among the people and bring a bad name to the government. He alleged that the parents said that their daughters are feeling much safer in the hostel than in their own parental houses.

"Don't know who is behind this conspiracy. We need to know the answers to the questions: Did Saraswathy Rangasamy (TNCPCR Chairperson) conduct the inquiry on her own or someone was ordering her to visit the schools? Are they asking her to inform the media of such news?" he asked.

​​Saraswathy Rangasamy headed the Tamil Nadu State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (TNCPCR) team that inspected the school on September 06 and sent a report to the NCPCR that the school was involved in forced religious conversions among the students who are from the economically weaker backgrounds and Child Care Institution (CCI) attached to CSI Monahan School was unregistered. The same day, the TNCPCR directed the Child Welfare Department (CWC) to evacuate the students from the school but CWC did not respond to the order.

“We are suspecting that this kind of information is being spread to disturb the social peace, religious harmony, and development of the state. We request the government to take appropriate action against Saraswathy Rangasamy who conducted an inquiry without giving prior notice and caused the disturbance to the school which was running peacefully,'' he further added. The minority commission's report based on the findings from this inspection is expected to be submitted to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin.

NCPCR, on September 09, had written a letter to Tamil Nadu government to look into the allegation and submit the action taken report along with First Information Report (FIR) against the school management within three days and to evacuate the students from the hostel as early as possible. Responding to the letter from the national body, the Tamil Nadu government constituted a team to probe the force conversion allegations. The team was headed by Additional Director of the Social Welfare Department SP Karthikaa led by a team, which also included child protection officers, inspected the school and conducted an inquiry on September 10. The inquiry team found that all the students who were in the hostel, at the time of inspection, were from Christian families and outrightly denied all the allegations.