Tripura: 17-Year-Old Tortured To Death Over Allegedly Refusing To Convert To Christianity, Probe Ordered

In Happy Debbarma death case, Tripura Government has decided to order a judicial enquiry, reports United News of India.

Happy (17), a class IX student of Holy Cross school at Kumarghat of Unokoti district in north Tripura, had died two weeks ago due to internal injury caused by a brutal attack by hostel superintendent.

As per the official sources, chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb has taken a serious note after hearing the background of the incident from an administrative report, which indicated a gloomy situation in the school where forceful conversion into Christianity has been a regular phenomenon.

The officials also stated that the deceased Happy had opposed attempts of conversion to Christianity and was cornered by the hostel superintendent Bulchung Halam, who then brutally thrashed Happy.

Reportedly, last year a teenage tribal girl student had committed suicide in the hostel following pressure from the warden and fathers of the school to convert her and the entire family into Christianity.

"The death of Happy Debbarma raised many questions about the functioning of the private convent schools especially missionary run institutions. Last year, one Lahari Debbarma of Auxiillum School here had committed suicide after she was being ill-treated by the sisters branding her thief as alleged by a shopping mall. The CID investigation was ordered by the state government but nothing has come out yet," said a senior officer in the state administration.

Education minister Ratan Lal Nath said, "There are series of allegations against private schools and we are going develop a regulatory mechanism to handle them. Also, the government has taken some stringent measures to ensure the safety and security of the students in the schools."