3 years after Roji Roy’s suicide, hearing and speech impaired parents wait for justice

Family alleged that some persons abetted Roji’s suicide and they have not been brought to book, but there has been no progress in the investigation.
3 years after Roji Roy’s suicide, hearing and speech impaired parents wait for justice
3 years after Roji Roy’s suicide, hearing and speech impaired parents wait for justice
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It has been three years since 19-year-old Roji Roy jumped to her death from the tenth floor of KIMS Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram, leaving behind many unanswered questions.

Hailing from a financially backward family at Nallila in the outskirts of Kollam district, Roji was a second-year student of the nursing college run by KIMS, a giant hospital group. Investigation was conducted at various levels, but the mystery surrounding the tragedy is yet to be unraveled.
The tragedy occurred on November 6, 2014. But the questions that her parents have about what prompted her to take the extreme step, what were the circumstances, or what exactly led to such a situation, all remain unanswered. 

Roji's parents and brother near her dead body/ File Photo 

According to authorities at KIMS, Roji committed suicide by jumping off the tenth floor of the hospital after her school principal sought an explanation from her over a complaint filed by a group of first-year students alleging that she had ragged them.

In a plea submitted by Roji’s parents, Roy George and Sajitha Roy, the High Court on August 9 this year directed the investigating team to conduct a proper inquiry into the case and look into the concerns raised by the parents in three months.

The judgment said, “The allegation of the petitioners is that they maintain that there were doubtful circumstances clouding the death of Roji. It was also alleged that some persons have abetted her to commit suicide and they have not been brought to book.” The court did not approve the petitioners' plea to entrust the investigation with any other agency.

But the judgment directed that: “It is for the investigating agency to consider the apprehensions raised by the parents and they have legal responsibility and duty to allay the apprehensions. The investigating officer shall pay his attention to the specific apprehensions raised by the parents and to consider whether a detailed investigation is warranted into it. He shall take an appropriate decision on it within three months.”

Roji’s mother and father are hearing and speech impaired. They have been running from pillar to post to get justice. They, along with their 19-year-old son Robin, had met Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on August 23 seeking a fair probe into the death of her daughter.

“But till date not a single paper has been moved in this regard. Earlier also we had given complaint at the Chief Minister’s office. We got a letter from the office after a few days acknowledging that the complaint was received. But this time we haven’t received anything though the CM had agreed to do the needful,” Robin said, speaking to TNM from Kollam after holding a press meet there on Saturday.
He says he is unsure of what to do next. “We will discuss with our counsel Manu Wilson on what to do next. We are not aware about the legal procedures. Regarding filing a petition against contempt of court for not conducting the probe as ordered by the court, we will decide in consultation with him,” he added.

“We fear the case will be sabotaged and the truth will never come out,” he said.
The family now lives in Kochi, where Roy works at the Navy canteen and Robin studies hotel management. The three came to Kollam to offer prayers at the church in connection with Roji’s death anniversary.

 “There has been no move after the court order. The court had ordered for a fair probe to be conducted in three months and the time period will end on November 9. The family had also met the Chief Minister, but nothing proved fruitful,” Roji Roy Action Council convener Sanjay Nallila said.



The case was first investigated by the Circle Inspector of the Medical College police station. On November 7, the next day of the death, it was taken over by the Assistant Commissioner, Crime Detachment. In February 2015, the investigation was transferred to the Crime Branch, which has been investigating the case since then.

“The principal summoned Roji to her office on that day in front of the three students who complained against her and their parents. They asked her to give a written apology. She soon left the room and jumped from the building. Later the post-mortem report said that the death happened at 12.30 pm. The college management later presented two complaints of the junior students which allegedly accused Roji of harassing. The time written on one of the complaints was 12 and other was 12.01 pm. Have you ever seen a complaint with such timing? Also the principal received the complaint at 12.30 pm, which means it was after Roji’s death,” advocate Manu Wilson had earlier told TNM.

“The more bizarre fact is that none of the teams has submitted the First Information Report as per 154 of CrPc as should happen in the case of a cognizable offense. Justice Kamal Pasha while hearing the petition for probe by a specialized agency had criticized it in an open court,” he added.

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