12 August,2023 08:01 PM IST | Chennai | PTI
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A Class 12 student belonging to the SC community in Tamil Nadu's Tirunelveli district was allegedly attacked by his classmates in an apparent fallout of previous enmity, even as Chief Minister M K Stalin expressed concern over "casteism poison" creeping into young minds.
AIADMK General Secretary and Leader of Opposition, K Palaniswami, expressed concern over the incident and lashed out at the ruling DMK over the matter, while calling for stringent punishment to the culprits.
The sister of the boy was also injured in the incident at Nanguneri when the assailants barged into their house and assaulted the victim, police said.
The incident was a result of a previous scuffle involving the victim and the assailants, they said. Six minors have been held in connection with the incident and all of them have been sent to a juvenile home, they added.
School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, expressing concern over the incident, said he would take responsibility for the expenses related to the medical treatment and education of the victims.
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CM Stalin said the incident "sends down shivers." "It shows how much the casteism poison has crept into young students. It is intolerable to see such violence due to caste," he said in a tweet.
The law will take its own course in the case, Stalin added.
It was the duty of all to teach the need for good social relations to students and the teaching community should take the lead in this connection, he added.
Hatred will lead us nowhere and there should not be any feeling of discrimination, he added.
Later, he announced setting up a one-man committee of retired High Court judge, Justice K Chandru, to give recommendations on ways to ensure an atmosphere free of casteism among school and college students.
The panel will seek the opinions of various stakeholders, including educationists, parents, journalists and scholars and submit a report to the government, the CM said in a statement.
The CM also announced a solatium of Rs 3 lakh to the family of a relative of the victims, who died of heart attack due to shock on witnessing the assault.
Launching a scathing attack on the government, AIADMK leader Palaniswami alleged whenever the "anti-people" DMK was in power, caste conflicts happened regularly.
He claimed narcotic substances like ganja were "freely available" in the state and that youngsters were falling prey to it.
"Despite repeated pleas for crushing the menace with an iron fist, the government has taken no action against ganja which takes the youth down the wrong path," he said in a statement.
He said that during the AIADMK regime led by the late J Jayalalithaa and later under him, peace prevailed as any such incidents were nipped in the bud, even as people lived harmoniously.
"The rule of law was established and anti-social elements were controlled," the former CM said.
The 27-month-old DMK government showed no interest in prevention but would come up with some explanation after some crime happened, Palaniswami charged.
He demanded that students be imparted moral instructions and sought full freedom to the police to control the drug menace.
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