PUDUKKOTTAI: A police team led by Keeranur DSP R Sengottuvelvan is on the hunt for suspects for allegedly assaulting a 16-year-old boy from a dalit community and abetting his suicide for speaking to a girl from kallar community. The DSP said, “The accused will be in custody within a couple of days.”
The suicide of V Vishnukumar, 16, from Adi Dravidar Street in Themmavur near Kulathur in Pudukkottai district, on November 3 has turned out to be a case of caste-based atrocity. His mother, Uma, 40, and family have alleged that he hanged himself at his home just hours after being physically assaulted and verbally abused by a boy and several others from the kallar community near a library in Keeranur on Friday.
Initially, the Udaiyalipatti police in Pudukkottai registered the case as a suicide. Later, they modified the charges to include abetment of suicide, verbal abuse, and voluntarily causing harm under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Evidence, an NGO, also took up the issue and conducted a field investigation in the village on Sunday. Executive director A Kathir of Evidence issued a report and held a press conference in Madurai on Monday. He said Vishnukumar’s fellow students at the Government Boys’ Higher Secondary School in Keeranur revealed that he was attacked for speaking to a girl from the upper caste. “He was attacked around 9 am and he suffered mental agony for two hours before ending his life by 11.30 am. A WhatsApp message sent by the boy to one of his friends just before his suicide also indicated that he took this drastic step due to caste-based discrimination,” Kathir said.
Evidence called on the state government to provide a compensation of 25 lakh and a monthly pension of 15,000 to the boy’s family.
Courtesy : TOI
Note: This news piece was originally published in timesofindia.com and used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes exclusively for Human Right
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