THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kattakada police on Friday arrested three persons allegedly involved in attacking the staff, including teachers of a school at Konniyoor, near Poovachal.The police identified the arrested as Kamaruddeen, 52; Shiyaz, 29, and Nizamudeen,47. All are natives of Konniyoor.
According to the police, the incident took place on Thursday around 8 pm when the cultural festival as part of the annual day celebrations of St Teresa’s UP school were progressing. Staff, faculty members and PTA members also assembled for the event.
Soon, around 10 persons who were reportedly the old students of the school unleashed an attack on PTA members. When the staff, including nuns, tried to stop them, they were also attacked by the assailants. The police said the attack came without any provocation and the assailants had tried to create tension deliberately. Some of them were also under the influence of alcohol, police said.
In the incident, the headmistress of the school Sr Sesilin was assaulted and her veil was pulled off by the attackers, police said. A 10-year-old student, Ajeesh, has been injured in the attack and is undergoing treatment at a nearby hospital. The police are verifying the CCTV footage to identify more people involved in the attack.
Kattakada CI V K Vijayaraghavan told Express that the attack was a fallout of a previous enmity between two groups who assembled at the spot. “Since the school permitted old students to attend the event, several locals came to see the event. So the previous enmity between two groups of old students snowballed into a big clash. Efforts are on to trace the remaining persons involved in the attack”, he said. The accused have been booked under Section 147, 148, 149 (Punishment for Rioting), Section 354 (Punishment for outraging the modesty of women) and Section 307 (Punishment for attempt to murder).