Fake NCC camp sexual abuse case: Madras High Court seeks report on mysterious death of accused, father

The Madras High Court has directed the Tamil Nadu Advocate General to file a detailed report on the circumstances that led to the death of the prime accused and his father in the case of rape of a 14-year-old girl and sexual abuse of several other minor students at a fake National Cadet Corps (NCC) camp organised at a private school..A bench of Acting Chief Justice D Krishnakumar and PB Balaji also directed the Advocate General PS Raman to submit the probe reports of the special investigation team and the multi-disciplinary team that are investigating the incident.In an order passed on August 28, the Court also directed the District Legal Services Authority of Krishnagiri to inspect the private school and interact with the victims, parents and other students and file a detailed report before the Court..The Court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation filed by lawyer AP Suryaprakasam seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation probe saying that the prime accused A Sivaraman and his father had died under “mysterious circumstances.”The case pertains to an incident in a private school in Krishnagiri district in Tamil Nadu where 12 minor girl students were subjected to sexual abuse by the deceased accused person. Sivaraman had organised a fake NCC camp at the School between August 5 and 9 this year and had sexually abused the victims and also raped one of them..Sivaraman was arrested on August 19 following a complaint made by the victim of rape. He died at a hospital in Salem on August 23. His father died in an alleged road accident the previous day..Advocate General PS Raman and State Public Prosecutor Hasan Mohamed Jinnah told the Court that as per the police, Sivaraman had committed suicide at the government hospital by consuming rat poison. His father meanwhile, had died in an unrelated case of road accident, they told the Court.The Advocate General also told the Court that a show cause notice had been issued to the management of the private school concerned, calling for an explanation..However, the High Court said that the school had failed in its duty to protect the students. It asked how the school had agreed to the NCC camp without conducting a thorough background check on the organisers?.“The school ought to have conducted a thorough background check on any individual or organisation they engaged for holding the camp. On account of the abject failure on the part of the management to be cautious, an untrustworthy person gained access to the school campus, and this has undermined the trust and credibility of the school as a safe environment for learning. In other words, the school had exposed the vulnerable children to a dangerous situation, which would have long-lasting repercussions on their physical, emotional and psychological development. The fact that such heinous act occurred within this supposedly sacred space is truly disheartening and unacceptable. It is only by taking decisive action and fostering a culture of zero-tolerance towards such atrocities that we can restore the trust and confidence of the public at large,” the Court said..It directed the AG and the DLSA to file their reports by September 4..[Read Order]