Security tightened after violence over student suicide in TN’s Kallakurichi

Mangalore Today News Network / News18

Kallakurichi, July 18, 2022: Security has been tightened outside the school in Kallakurichi in Tamil Nadu district after a class 12 student died by suicide on Sunday.

 

The violence erupted on Sunday as protesters, demanding justice for the death of the girl, went on a rampage and set fire to vehicles, indulged in stone-pelting and ransacked and vandalised her school.

Police had to fire in the air to restrain the violent mobs and prohibitory orders were clamped. With the arrival of police reinforcements from nearby regions, the situation gradually returned to normal.

Tamil Nadu Director General of Police C Sylendra Babu informed that the school correspondent Ravikumar, secretary Shanthi and Principal Shiva Sankaran were arrested over the death of a student and for failing to maintain safety at the school hostel, a report in ANI said.
The father of the victim approached the Madras High Court for a hearing in the case. However, Justice N Sathish Kumar said, “When you had approached the court, don’t you have faith in the court? How can you take the State to ransom? How can there be violence?”

Meanwhile, State Home Secretary Phanindra Reddy said the investigation of the case will be conducted from all angles and requested the public to maintain calm.

“The government’s aim is to clarify all doubts in this case. We are assuring that probe will be conducted from all angles in this case. We appeal to the public not to indulge in acts of violence and not pay heed to rumours,” Reddy said.

The investigation into the girl’s death was transferred to the CB-CID, Director General of Police C Sylendra Babu said. As many as 70 men who were involved in the violence and 2 men and a woman holding senior positions in the school management have all been arrested, Babu said.

Those from the school have been held in connection with the girl’s death, he said. Answering a question, he ruled out intelligence failure. As many as 52 police personnel, including officials like DIG (Villupuram) M Pandian, were injured.

Chief Minister M K Stalin assured people that persons found guilty in the matter would be punished. AIADMK top leader and former Chief Minister K Palaniswami blamed the police, State government and district administration for negligence and failing to act on time.

A 17-year-old girl, studying Class 12 in a private residential school in Chinnasalem’s Kaniyamoor area, about 15 km from here, was found dead on July 13 on the hostel premises. The girl, an inmate of a room on the third floor of the hostel was suspected to have ended her life by jumping to the ground from the top floor. Reportedly, a postmortem report indicated that she had sustained injuries before her death. Police registered a case and initiated a probe.