Tiruchy: Visually challenged persons demand fair probe into death of blind Class 12 girl

TIRUCHY: The Confederation of Associations of Visually Challenged Persons staged a protest in Tiruchy on Monday demanding a fair investigation into the suicidal death of a blind Class 12 student in the school hostel.

Rajeswari (18), a visually challenged girl from Kattumannarkovil, pursuing Class 12 in Government Girls Higher Secondary School for Blind in Puthur, Tiruchy who was preparing for her public examinations, hanged herself to death in the hostel on March 9 night.

On information, the hostel warden who visited the spot passed on the information to the GH police who rushed to the spot and retrieved the body and sent it to the GH for the postmortem.

Meanwhile, on March 10, the members from the visually challenged association gathered in front of the GH and later the GH police station and staged a protest claiming that there was foul play.

Subsequently, the police held talks with the agitating members, assuring proper investigation and so they withdrew the protest.

However, on Monday, claiming that the investigation process was at a snail’s pace, the Confederation of Associations of Persons with Visually Challenged who assembled in front of the Tiruchy district collectorate staged a protest demanding to conduct a fair investigation and accelerate the process.

They demanded that the government appoint a proper number of staff in the school and step up monitoring of the students. They also sought periodical counselling for the students, particularly during the exam times.

It may be noted that, on March 14, the Commissionerate for Welfare of the Differently Abled sent a notice to the Tiruchy Police Commissioner for an inquiry and directed them to submit a report by March 20.