PUDUKKOTTAI: A 16-year-old Dalit boy, studying in Class 11 at a government school, died by suicide on Friday allegedly after undergoing caste-based harassment at the hands of caste Hindu boys from the same village in Keeranur area of Pudukkottai district.
According to Udayalippatti police, the boy was in a relationship with a girl from a caste Hindu community. Learning of this, boys from the girl’s community started harassing him.
“On Friday morning, when the boy was about to board the bus to school, the group of five boys assaulted him and abused him by his caste name,” police said. Upset, the boy went home and allegedly ended his life. His grandfather found his body and informed the neighbours. Police sent the body to the Pudukkottai government hospital for post-mortem and the cremation was conducted on Saturday.
Based on a complaint from the boy’s mother, police registered the case as an unnatural death with the reason suspected to be “vexation of life due to love failure”. However, preliminary inquiry suggested he had faced harassment from the caste Hindu boys, which had led him to take his life. Friday was not the first time he was harassed, sources said. Following this, police on Sunday altered the sections to include Section 306 (abetment of suicide) and 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) of the IPC as well as provisions of the SC/ST act against five unnamed persons.
Police said as SC/ST Act had been invoked, the case would be investigated by Keeranur Deputy Superintendent of Police R Sengottuvelavan. The district committee of the CPM said the boy’s suicide raised suspicion. “The family told us he had been repeatedly harassed and beaten by BC boys in the village. Those involved must be arrested,” the party said in a statement.
CPM MLA visited the deceased’s family, offered his condolences
It urged the state government to provide relief to the family. Communist Party of India (CPM) MLA M Chinnadurai from Gandharvakottai visited the family of the deceased on Sunday and expressed his condolences.
(If you are in distress or are having suicidal thoughts, call 104 for the health department’s helpline that offers counselling or dial 044- 24640050 for Sneha Suicide Prevention Centre’s helpline.)