The violent protest broke out on the premises of a school at Kallakurichi in Tamil Nadu due to the death of a class 12 candidate on the campus on Sunday.
Kallakurichi : A 17 years old girl, who studied in the 12th standard of Kaniyamoor ,Sakthi matriculation school in Salem district was found dead on 13th July 2022. She was suspected to have jumped from the 3rd floor of the hostel. Her body was discovered by the school’s watchman.
The protesters set fire to school vehicles and defaced the school premises after the dead body was rescued after four days from the ground floor of the hostel. As known, the girl killed herself after facing harassment from two teaching staff of the school.
The first autopsy spotted the reason for her death, due to multiple injuries and hemorrhages. Although, the girl’s family has reported that the death of their daughter was not because of suicide, due to the continuous disturbance from the two teachers, who have sexually assaulted her. The girl’s family has held the school management responsible for her death.
Although the protest had a huge mass since the girl’s death, it took a peek on Sunday, 17th July 2022. They attacked the police by throwing stones at them and setting fire on the school buses. The girl’s relative along with other protesters broke the police barricades and blemished the school premises. Many of them reached the arch-like structure of the school entrance and vandalized the school’s name-board and claimed justice, for the girl.
The police department arrested two IT wings from AIADMK and over 300 people, for the violent protest at the school in Kallakurichi.
The chemistry teacher and mathematics teacher have been arrested by the police, whose names were mentioned in the suicide note for harassing the girl. Altogether five people have been arrested on a note to the case, along with the principal.
A video from the school secretary Shanti has blamed the deceased mother for spreading “fake news” among the public about her daughter’s assault, leading to such a huge protest. The school in its official Facebook video shared a video of Shanti, blaming the girl’s mother for the spread of rumors. She said, “Why did she (mother) instigate such violence against us by spreading false information on social media platforms about the school while we were in police custody? By spreading false information and instigating people. The mob burnt buses, chairs, and tables.” Although the secretary was one of the five, who were arrested by the police department.
In the meanwhile, in a viral video, the mother of the girl claimed that her daughter’s body was kept in the mortuary without their permission. The police denied to show them her body when asked for it. She also said that the school CCTV footage was not shown as requested. She said that the doctors in the hospital said that she was brought dead and her hands legs and face were fine but there was blood only on her head. The warden, principal, and nobody came to meet her. She claimed for the school to shut down.
The girl’s father approached the Madras High Court seeking a second autopsy and a CB-CID investigation of his child’s death. The High Court declared a second autopsy and has asked the government to scrutinize the outbreak of people that took place on July 14, 2022.
The AIADMK interim general secretary and former Chief Minister K Palaniswami blamed the state government, district administration, and the police for not being able to act at the time.
