17-yr-old assaulted with sickles, bottles in TN; four arrested
The incident took place after the second-year polytechnic student, Manoj Kumar, allegedly asked the group not to drive recklessly on the road, which reportedly angered them
A 17-year-old youth was brutally attacked with sickles and empty beer bottles allegedly by a group of upper-caste youngsters who barged into his house at Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu on Monday evening. Four accused were arrested in this connection, police officers aware of the matter said on Tuesday.
The incident took place after the second-year polytechnic student, Manoj Kumar, allegedly asked the group not to drive recklessly on the road, which reportedly angered them. Kumar is undergoing treatment at the Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital, they added.
“CCTV footage showed six people came to the village on two motorcycles. We have arrested four accused in this connection and a team is searching for the remaining suspects,” a police officer said. The suspects are from Thirumalai Kozhundhu Puram village and a case has been registered against them under various sections of the Prevention of Atrocities (SC/ST) Act, the officer added.
Police have not named the arrested accused yet.
On Monday afternoon, Kumar was walking back home when a car came dangerously close to him and he warned those inside the vehicle to drive carefully. “This led to a verbal spat between them,” the official further said. “The local residents intervened and stopped the fight, and Kumar went home.”
Hours later, Kumar was alone at home — as his father, Chinnadurai, who works as a mason, and his mother, Suganthi, who works in an eatery, were away for work — nine people barged into his home in Melapattam. They attacked him with sickles and smashed empty beer bottles on his head, leaving him bleeding profusely, the officer said.
“He has sustained several cuts in his head and legs,” his mother said. “And they smashed empty beer bottles on his head. There was no previous enmity between them. My son has been attacked simply because he asked them not to drive recklessly. There is no safety for people like us,” she added.
Kumar belongs to the Scheduled Caste (SC), while the attackers belonged to the Maravar caste classified as the Other Backward Castes (OBCs).
The recent incident is a stark reminder of the 2023 caste violence in which a 17-year-old Dalit boy Chinnadurai was murdered by his classmates, who belonged to the Maravar community, inside his home in Nanguneri in the month of August. The crime led the Tamil Nadu government to constitute a committee under the retired Justice K Chandru to suggest solutions for preventing caste violence among students. Caste divisions are stark in Tirunelveli among students who take pride in wearing caste markers, such as coloured wrist bands in their hands. Outside institutions too, caste markers such as certain colours identified with their communities are painted on electric poles and on public walls. Caste-related violence has been on the rise in Tirunelveli district for the past few years with several incidents of atrocities against Dalits by dominant communities.