The VHP and BJP exploited a dying Tamil Nadu teenager to push Hindutva agenda

Seven months into his tenure as Tamil Nadu BJP president, K Annamalai launched one of his biggest political campaigns, following the tragic suicide of 17-year-old Lavanya in Thanjavur. Annamalai alleged that Sacred Heart Higher Secondary School, where Lavanya was studying, pressured her to convert to Christianity, driving her to take her own life.

The student’s death on January 19, 2022 ignited a communal campaign, with the right-wing ecosystem amplifying claims of ‘rampant coerced conversions’. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) led protests accusing the DMK government of permitting ‘forced conversions’ in Tamil Nadu’s schools, which dominated national headlines for weeks. Two years later, a CBI investigation has concluded that the student’s death was caused by harassment from her hostel warden, not pressure to convert. The probe also revealed that a local VHP leader exploited the child on her deathbed to further a Hindutva narrative. The CBI says in its chargesheet, that TNM has accessed, that Lavanya’s parents were under the influence of a VHP leader and some BJP leaders of Thanjavur.

Video recorded by VHP leader

Annamalai was the first to tweet a video of Lavanya on January 20, 2022, a day after her death. This 47-second video, recorded by VHP leader Muthuvel, showed a hospitalised Lavanya stating that two years earlier, a nun named Rachael Mary from her school had approached her parents about her converting to Christianity, assuring them that she would take care of her studies after that. This was, however, not mentioned in the complaint given by the family or in any of Lavanya’s statements recorded by the police or in her subsequent dying declaration to a Judicial Magistrate.

Lavanya was in the hospital after she fell sick on January 9 while at school and the hostel warden, Sister Sagaya Mary, informed her parents to pick her up from the hostel. Later, Lavanya was taken to KVS Hospital in Ariyalur. The doctors there told her parents that her condition was critical. The parents requested a referral to Thanjavur Medical College Hospital, as it was convenient for them. According to the CBI, it was not until January 15 that Lavanya revealed that she had consumed herbicide to anyone, including doctors. The case was converted into a Medico Legal Case (MLC) and the next day, Lavanya’s dying declaration was recorded by Muhammed Ali, Judicial Magistrate 1 of Thanjavur.

The CBI chargesheet says that Lavanya’s parents – father Muruganandam and stepmother Saranya – became anxious and curious to know what she had told the police and the magistrate, primarily because the stepmother did not enjoy a good relationship with Lavanya and her two brothers. On January 16, Murugananadam reached out to his relative Ayyarappan for help.

“Muruganandam and his wife Saranya informed Ayyarappan that two years ago a sister at the hostel had tried to influence them to convert Lavanya to Christianity,” the chargesheet says. It was after this that the VHP came into the picture.

Ayyapparan contacted Muthuvel, the VHP’s Ariyalur district secretary. On January 17, the hospital informed the parents that there was 85% damage to Lavanya’s organs such as the lungs, liver, and kidney due to infection and that her chances of recovery were low. This, however, did not stop Muthuvel from going into the Toxicology ward of the Thanjavur Medical College Hospital to record Lavanya’s video around 3 pm.