SIVAGANGA: A 21-year-old Dalit student from Melapidavur village in Sivaganga district was attacked by caste Hindus for riding a 'Bullet' on Wednesday late evening.
The Dalit youth R Iyyasamy suffered hack injuries on both his hands. He is presently undergoing treatment at the Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai, about 45 kms away.
According to police, late on Wednesday evening when Iyyasamy was returning home on his motorcycle, he was confronted by three caste Hindus namely, R Vinothkumar (21), A Atheeshwaran (22) and M Vallarasu (21) of the same village.
Subsequently, they attacked him with sharp weapons.
A relative of the injured college student, Muniyasami said that the caste Hindu men hacked Iyyasamy's hands saying, "only higher community youths can drive high-end bikes, Dalits should not drive such bikes." They also abused him referring to his caste.
The gang would have murdered him if Iyyasamy had not managed to flee the place and reach home, he added.
After the family members took Iyyasamy to hospital, caste Hindus ransacked the Dalit family's house.
Caste discrimination has been prevailing in the village for a long time now, Muniyasami noted, demanding police protection for the family.
Iyyasamy's father, Boominathan said the caste Hindus were not happy with his driving of a 'Bullet' bike in the locality.
On a previous occasion, they damaged the bike.
Police sources denied the 'Bullet' issue is the primary reason for the attack. They claimed that Iyyasamy had teased one of the suspects, Atheeshwararan. They already had a quarrel between them.
However the investigation is still on, police added.
SIPCOT police booked a case against Vinothkumar, Atheeshwaran and Vallarasu under 296 (1), 126 (2), 118 (1), 351 (3) of BNS and 3(1)(r)(s) of SC/ST Act.
They were arrested and later remanded in a prison.
Iyyasamy is a third year UG mathematics student at a college in Sivaganga.