CHENNAI: A week ago, 18-year-old Nitheesh Kumar and a 17-year-old boy were attacked with knives allegedly by a group of armed college students inside the subway connecting Chennai Central metro and the suburban railway station.
The attack, police said, was the latest chapter in a long-standing rivalry between students commuting on the Gummidipoondi and Tiruttani railway routes. The July 27 incident led to the arrest of eight students on charges of attempted murder.
It was the third such clash reported in the city in just over two weeks. Earlier three students were arrested after a clash at Guindy railway station on July 20, while a Presidency College student was attacked by another student on July 8.
‘Route thala’
Police officers investigating such cases said they all trace back to ‘route thala’, a phenomenon considered unique to Chennai. It revolves around students asserting dominance over the bus or suburban train routes they use to commute between home and college.
A Government Railway Police (GRP) officer who investigated the 2024 murder of a 20-year-old Presidency College student, allegedly at the hands of Pachaiyappa’s College students, said the motive behind such attacks is often impossible to pin down.
The rivalry has persisted for decades, passed down from one batch of students to the next. “It’s like peeling an onion. Almost none of these cases have a clear motive. They result from students trying to assert dominance over others on the routes they travel between home and college,” another officer said. “During our inquiry, we found that many current students consider it their duty to carry forward the tradition.”
The clashes are predominantly associated with students of Pachaiyappa’s College, Presidency College and Government Arts College, Nandanam, although students from a few other institutions are occasionally involved, the officer said.
Police said they have repeatedly written to the colleges concerned and run awareness programmes involving parents, but with limited success. “In most cases, the parents of the accused are daily wage labourers and are unaware of their children’s activities outside their homes,” the officer said.
A senior police officer said colleges should identify vulnerable students early, and encourage them to participate in academics and extracurricular activities before rivalries set in. “At the same time, visible policing at railway stations and bus stops during peak college hours can help prevent clashes before they escalate,” he said.
Pattern of violence
Experts argue that the problem reflects deeper social and institutional issues. Every year, they say, the pattern repeats itself: a violent clash, hospitalised students, arrests, tightened campus security and then the violence shifts to buses, railway stations and arterial roads where colleges have little control.
“What happens inside the campus is completely different from what happens outside,” said Baby Gulnaz, principal of Pachaiyappa’s College. She said strict monitoring has ensured such incidents are rare on campus, but regulating students once they leave college is nearly impossible.
The college now plans counselling and awareness sessions with senior police officers to highlight how a single act of violence can derail a student’s education and career.
“If students do not attend classes regularly, disciplining or reforming them becomes difficult,” she noted.
Search for an identity
Former principals and alumni believe the absence of student union elections has also removed a constructive outlet for leadership and competition.
Sam Gabriel, a Pachaiyappa’s alumnus pursuing PG at JNU, said many students come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, broken families or neighbourhoods where violence is normalised. “Teachers must help students recognise their worth and show them a career path. Instead, many feel labelled as failures from the day they enter college,” he added.
Psychiatrist Dr Lakshmi Vijayakumar stressed on the film industry’s habit of glorifying aggression through hyper-masculine heroes, which, combined with peer pressure, can push young people towards imitating reckless behaviour. “When students move in groups, individual accountability weakens and mob mentality takes over,” she said.
Experts said reviving student elections, strengthening mentorship, expanding sports and cultural activities, regular counselling, early identification of vulnerable students and firm action against habitual offenders must all happen together to end this cycle of violence.
As former University of Madras vice-chancellor SP Thyagarajan put it, ‘route thala’ is not merely a law-and-order issue. “It reflects a crisis of identity among a section of young people searching for recognition. Unless colleges, families, police and society offer students a more meaningful sense of belonging and purpose, we may continue to witness the same cycle of violence and crackdowns.”