CHENNAI: As the brutal attack of a Odisha youth by four juveniles snowballed further on Tuesday with many attributing it to the alleged hatred towards “north Indians”, Inspector General of Police (North) Asra Garg on Tuesday told the media that there is no evidence so far that the attack was motivated mainly because of the victim’s regional identity.
Pointing out that the help of an ex-servicemen who spoke the language of the victim, identified as K Suraj, was sought to help the victim narrate his incident, Garg said his complaint did not say that the four targeted him because of his identity. After an argument over the victim “staring” at them, the minors forced him to get off the train at Tiruttani and took him to abandoned railway quarters, where he was attacked. The minors filmed the assault and uploaded the footage online.
He noted that the Odisha youth wasn’t a guest worker, but had come out of home and was travelling to different cities in the stretch in the past one to one-and-half months.
Interestingly, the police acknowledged that he left the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, where he was sent for treatment on Monday, on his own volition, stating that he wanted to go back home.
On the claims made by the juveniles themselves about consuming drugs, the IG also said the consumption of drugs by the boys is the subject matter of the investigation.
The IG noted that the department is closely monitoring social media platforms to identify provocative posts or youngsters like the four juveniles who post content showing them wielding weapons. Police officials said they are working to take down the videos of the assault to protect identities of the juveniles.
The four have been booked for attempted murder by the Tiruttani police. While three were sent to a Place of Safety home by the Juvenile Justice Board, one was allowed to go with his parents.
The Government Railway Police has registered a separate case under Section 351 (2) of the BNS and the Arms Act, noting that one juvenile already had a previous case under Section 153 of the Railways Act for endangering passenger safety on platforms.