Girl kills self; kin blame officials of denying SC cert

TIRUVANNAMALAI: Pushed to despair allegedly because of her inability to get the community certificate that could have helped her obtain a college seat, a 17-year-old girl from a lowered caste died by suicide in Tiruvannamalai. She had scored more than 60 per cent marks in Class 12.

According to sources, Rajeswari alias Jothi (17), daughter of Murugan of MGR Nagar in Edapalayam village, had scored 375 marks out of 600, a creditable achievement for a person hailing from an oppressed caste. However, she was reportedly despondent, as her classmates joined college but she could not – allegedly because she was not able to get a community certificate showing that she belonged to the Scheduled Caste. She consumed poison on June 17, and succumbed on Thursday.

When her relatives staged a sit-in protest at the Collector’s office on Monday (June 19) following this, Collector B Murugesh spoke with them and promised to sort out the issue after consulting anthropologists with the Adi Dravidar Welfare Department in Chennai.

After Jothi’s death brought attention to the alleged laxity in granting community certificate, officials claimed that her relatives demanded SC community certificate as they were pig herders. But they had no evidence to back the claim, like a bona fide certificate of their caste possessed by any of their community members, said officials.

“As per government records, they belong to the Boer caste which comes under the MBC category. The district officials were ready to give this community certificate, but they insisted on getting an SC community certificate,” said an official.

Meanwhile, the police report merely stated that the girl died by suicide after completing school studies, without explaining any reason for taking the extreme step.