Representative image.
Credit: DH Photo/B K Janardhan
In the wake of a 17-year-old boy and his sister being hacked by a group of students in Tirunelveli district, the Tamil Nadu government on Saturday appointed a committee headed by Justice (retired) K Chandru to come out with measures to eliminate caste and racial differences among students in educational institutions.
In a statement, Chief Minister M K Stalin said it doesn’t augur well for the state of Tamil Nadu that caste differences are entrenched even in the minds of students.
“Since it is a problem for which a resolution has to be found immediately, I have appointed a committee headed by retired judge K Chandru to advise the government on how to handle such a situation and come out with suggestions to eliminate caste and racial differences among students,” the Chief Minister added.
The committee will interact with educationists, students, parents, social activists, and journalists and submit a report based on the inputs received from them.
The development comes days after the 17-year-old boy and his teenage sister belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC) were brutally hacked by three teenage schoolmates from an intermediate caste inside their home.
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.