In another shocking caste atrocity in Tamil Nadu, a 16-year-old Dalit boy in Pudukottai district died by suicide after he was assaulted by a caste Hindu schoolmate for speaking with a caste Hindu girl. Activists have urged the state police to investigate and book the other children involved in the crime and to declare Pudukottai a caste-atrocity-prone area. On November 3, V Vishnu Kumar, a Class 11 student, who belonged to the Paraiyar community, was assaulted and verbally abused with casteist slurs near Keeranur library while he was on the way to school. The perpetrator was his schoolmate who belongs to the dominant Kallar community. Upset over the incident, the Dalit student returned to his house in Koppampatti of Kulathoor block and died by suicide a few hours later. The Paraiyar community is categorized as Scheduled Caste in Tamil Nadu while Kallars come under Denotified Communities (DNC) within the Most Backward Class (MBC) category in the state.
Vishnu was reportedly friends with the girl who belonged to the Kallar community. They had studied in the same school till class 10 and had remained in touch even after he moved to a different school for his higher secondary education. Angered by this friendship, the Kallar students warned him not to speak to the girl on various occasions. On November 3, when Vishnu was on his way to school, he was beaten up by a Kallar student who also had a group of other Kallar boys with him. Around 11.00 a.m. on the same day, he returned to his house and took his own life. Before he died by suicide, Vishnu told his grandfather what happened to him. His grandfather tried to pacify Vishnu and promised him that they would file a police complaint against the perpetrators. The investigation report and the FIR, however, mentions only one perpetrator.
Evidence, a Madurai-based Non-Government Organisation (NGO), conducted a fact-finding exercise in Koppampatti village, and has urged the state government to arrest all the perpetrators. Kathir, Executive Director of Evidence, said that despite eyewitnesses alleging that there were other boys with the main perpetrator, none of them have been booked or detained.
This story was originally published in thenewsminute.com. Read the full story here .