Representative image of crime.
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A 17-year-old boy and his teenage sister belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC) are receiving treatment at a government hospital in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu after they were brutally hacked by three teenage schoolmates from an intermediate caste inside their home.
The shocking incident has led to a major outrage with activists and film directors taking to social media seeking an end to caste-related violence in schools.
Chief Minister M K Stalin said it was sad that caste was entrenched even in the minds of school children and asked teachers to inculcate morals to students, while School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi promised to incur the educational expenses of the affected boy.
Six juveniles, who were involved and related to the gory incident, have been arrested and are currently under the custody of the Juvenile Justice Board.
Children of daily wage labourers, M Chinnadurai and M Chandraselvi are studying at a government-aided school in Valliyoor in Tirunelveli district and it is believed the teenager was good in his studies and was constantly bullied and harassed by three of his classmates.
Sources said unable to handle the harassment from his classmates, Chinnadurai narrated his experiences to his parents and stopped attending classes. “But the school administration intervened and ensured that Chinnadurai returned to the class and issued a warning to the students who harassed him,” a source added.
However, hours after the warning, the trio barged into Chinnadurai’s home and hacked him and his sister who tried to save her brother.
District officials said they were ready to shift the siblings to another school if they wished to get a transfer, while Poyyamozhi asked students to follow brotherhood during the centenary year of Vaikom revolution led by several leaders from Kerala and Periyar from Tamil Nadu which ensured temple visiting rights to all communities.
Taking to social media, director Mari Selvaraj, whose movies talk about violence against Dalits, asked people to find out the reason for the bloodshed, by posting a picture of bloodstains of the victims. Music director G V Prakash said, “If caste is society, then let poison spread in the air.”
Several political leaders also condemned the incident and sought an end to caste-based violence.