In another shocking incident, a Class 11 student from the Pallar community in Kalugumalai, Tuticorin was attacked by 10 students on Thursday, August 17. Pallar community is categorised as a Scheduled Caste (SC) in Tamil Nadu. According to reports, Hari Prasad, a student of Government High School in Kalugumalai, was subjected to casteist harassment at school when he tried to stop a fight between two other students in which his friend Hemanth was involved. When Hari Prasad tried to break the scuffle on August 17, one of the students cited his lowered caste and subjected him to verbal casteist harassment.
Later that day, a group of ten students travelled to Lakshmipuram and searched for Hari Prasad. Around 8 pm, when they spotted Hari Prasad alone at a temple, the gang attacked, castigated and threatened to kill him before they fled. The victim’s parents rushed him to the Primary Health Centre (PHC), where he was provided first aid. Later, he was admitted to the Government Hospital in Kovilpatti for treatment.
The Kalugumalai police have registered a case against the ten students. A few college-going students were also part of the ten students who attacked Hari Prasad. Kalugumalai police arrested 5 persons linked to the attack. Among them, 4 are from the Maravar community and one person is from the Pandaram community. Both communities are categorised as the Most Backward Class in Tamil Nadu.
This incident surfaced a week after a caste crime was reported in Nanguneri, where the victim was a Dalit student studying in Class 12. Chinnadurai, a student in a government-aided school in Valliyur, Tirunelveli, was regularly subjected to caste-based harassment by students who belong to the Maravar community. Chinnadurai stopped going to school from the last week of July, as he did not want to be harassed. The bullying came to light when his teacher called his mother, Ambikapathi, to enquire about his absence. After the teacher warned the students who bullied him, they attacked Chinnadurai and his younger sister Chandraselvi with sickles at their residence.
Following the brutal attack on the Dalit teen siblings, Chief Minister MK Stalin on August 12 ordered the setting up of a one-man committee under retired High Court judge Justice K Chandru to recommend suggestions to prevent caste discrimination among school and college students in the state.