Attack on SC student by classmates; TN CM expresses concern

A Class 12 student belonging to the SC community in Tamil Nadus 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 mindsAIADMK 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 culpritsThe sister of the boy was also injured in the incident at Nanguneri when the assailants barged into their house and assaulted the victim police saidThe 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 addedSchool 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 victimsCM 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 tweetThe law will take its own course in the case Stalin addedIt 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 addedHatred will lead us nowhere and there should not be any feeling of discrimination he addedLater he announced setting up a oneman 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 studentsThe 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 statementThe 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 assaultLaunching a scathing attack on the government AIADMK leader Palaniswami alleged whenever the antipeople DMK was in power caste conflicts happened regularlyHe claimed narcotic substances like ganja were freely available in the state and that youngsters were falling prey to itDespite 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 statementHe 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 harmoniouslyThe rule of law was established and antisocial elements were controlled the former CM saidThe 27monthold DMK government showed no interest in prevention but would come up with some explanation after some crime happened Palaniswami chargedHe demanded that students be imparted moral instructions and sought full freedom to the police to control the drug menaceThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever