No headway in Roji death probe

Kollam: As the suicide of Gauri Neha at Trinity Lyceum in Kollam triggered a hot debate, the death of a nursing student, Roji Roy, in a similar incident at KIMS hospital in Thiruvananthapuram three years back is in oblivion.

The investigative agency has failed to abide by the directive of the Kerala High Court to reinvestigate the case to ensure justice to the girl's deaf and dumb parents. The court had given three months which ends on Thursday.

The police had registered no crime in this case, which is a violation of a 2014 Supreme Court order. Ms Roy, 19, the only daughter of the challenged couple from Kollam, jumped into death from the hospital in November 2014.

“The investigation officer has not yet contacted my parents,” says Robin Roy, her brother.

He also alleges intervention of vested interests intending to sabotage the investigation which is now with the crime branch police. 

“We had even filed a complaint with CM and got a direction to go on with an investigation by a higher police official three months back. It also has reached nowhere,” he says.

The apex court order based on the Lalita Kumari vs Govt of UP in 2014 says if there is a complaint received by a station house officer about a cognizable offence, there is no option but to register an FIR and send a copy to the judicial magistrate. 

But in this case, even though the parents have filed a complaint expressing their suspicion over her death, the matter is still with the sub judicial magistrate as it has been registered as a case of “unnatural death” without the mandatory section 154(1) of the CRPC.

The investigation faced several setbacks as four officers changed since its commencement. Its hurt and homicide wing, which showed exceptional progress in the investigation, handed it over to economic offences wing, which is irrational.

The investigation had found that the girl was mentally tortured on the previous night of her exams. She was taken in a food carrier van to the nursing college’s office and harassed in front of other parents and students.

A second-year B.Sc nursing student at the KIMS school of Nursing in Thiruvananthapuram, she jumped to death from the 10th floor of its north building at 12.30 pm on November 6 and died around 6.00 pm in the same hospital.

The case prolonged even after the investigating officer filed a detailed report on its current status at the HC in March last year. The case was first with the Medical College Police and was transferred to the crime detachment ACP before the CBCID took it over.