MADURAI: In the context of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) members’ visit to Nanguneri, its national vice president R Murali on Wednesday said politicians should not cultivate casteism among people for their vote bank politics.
Addressing press in Madurai, he said the PUCL, during their visit to Nanguneri on August 13, found that the caste Hindu boys who committed the offense had deep-rooted casteist thoughts. “It is worrying to see the involvement of school students in caste atrocities.
The boys exchanged weapons between them on the night of the incident, so that each of them could assault the SC boy. Considering that these are only a starting point for such incidents, the state government must act swiftly before such incidents become regular in educational institutions. The state could appoint counsellors at schools,” he added.
State general secretary of PUCL Advocate John Vincent, highlighting the court cases, said the boys who committed the offense should be treated as adults in the case as the boys were aware of the severity of the incident and also engaged in the attack. Murali further said the SC people in the locality and neighbouring areas have been subjected to atrocities of different forms, including usury and denying entry to to a temple in the village.
Stating that the state government should consider it as a special case and reserve a seat of the boy’s choice in higher education, Murali added that the boy has to appear for the Class 12 exam this year and that he could take at least three months to recover from the physical injuries.
"The brutal attack would have definitely created a mental impact on him. The caste Hindu boys were not influenced by casteist movies, but rather it was already entrenched in them. It is possible that the boys may be influenced by the modus operandi of caste violence in movies these days," he added.
Meanwhile, Dalit activist Mathikannan also observed that the caste Hindu boys have deep-rooted casteism on their minds. "The SC people of the village and neighbouring areas do not wait for a chance for a counter-attack, but, rather, they are already living in fear of the caste Hindus. The Nanguneri incident has triggered more fear," he said.
The report of PUCL's field visit will be sent to the one-man committee of retired justice K Chandru. During the press meeting, writer Mathikannan, PUCL district functionaries Krishnamoorthy and Kanmani were also present.