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The Supreme Court on Monday refused to interfere in the Madras High Court order transferring investigation into 17-year old Thanjavur girl’s (Lavanya) alleged forceful conversion & suicide case to CBI.

Top Court told the state of Tamil Nadu, insistent upon the quashing of transfer not to make this a “prestige issue” & that a lot had happened in the case.

However, in the appeal, on the question of remarks made by the High Court against State police’s inaction and bolstering of counter narratives in the case, the Supreme Court has issued notice and that was under challenge by state of Tamil Nadu too.

The state of Tamil Nadu was represented by Mukul Rohatgi, senior Advocate and the state police by P.Wilson, senior Advocate.

Bench told Wilson, who insisted he be heard at length as “even in parliament he is given a chance to speak” that it was already satisfied with the part of the order which transferred the investigation to CBI.

“We are not interfering in the investigation angle part to CBI. A lot has unfurled in this case which needs to be investigated”, the bench made it clear.

In the Special Leave Petition, Tamil Nadu government, through the DGP, challenged validity of the order passed by a single judge bench of the high court's Madurai Bench. The DGP has also challenged the remarks that Madras High Court has made against the State Police's thorough inaction and lack of concerted effort in chasing the probable angle of conversion that led to the girl's suicide and instead bolstering the counter narrative of the involvement of the step mother.

The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on 31st January, 2022 had ordered the transfer of the the student death case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The Single Judge Bench of Justice G.R. Swaminathan had passed the order in a petition moved by father of the 17-year-old girl who had killed herself in Thanjavur reportedly because she was forced to undergo religious conversion. Thereafter the girl's father had sought CB-CID inquiry into the case.

In the judgment the High Court had expounded multiple circumstances to arrive at the conclusion that the "investigation is not proceeding on the right lines" and that it was the Court's duty to render posthumous justice to the child.

"Since a high ranking Hon'ble Minister himself has taken a stand, investigation cannot continue with the State Police. I therefore direct the Director, Central Bureau of Investigation, New Delhi to assign an officer to take over investigation from the State Police," Court said while allowing the petition by M Lavanya’s father plea seeking a CB-CID inquiry into his daughter’s death.

Meanwhile, the father of the girl has also filed a caveat requesting the apex court not to pass any order, without hearing him in the matter.

On 1st February, 2022 a plea in the Supreme Court was filed by Advocate Ashwini Updhyay who had sought investigation into the root-cause of death of 17-year-old Lavanya. He further sought declaration that fraudulent religious conversion and religious conversion by intimidation, threatening, deceivingly luring through gifts and monetary benefits offends Articles 14, 21, 25 of the Constitution.