Tamil Nadu: Protesters destroy school property following Class 12 girl’s murder

Sunday, the protests in Kaniyamoor, Tamil Nadu’s Kallakurichi district, over the death of a Class 12 student at a private residential school got violent. Demonstrators broke into a school and set fire to buses. They did damage to the school as part of their plan to get back at the Class 12 girl’s family for her death.

The girl killed herself on Wednesday, July 13. In a note she left behind, she said that two teachers had treated her badly. The school’s night watchman found her dead body.

Even though the two teachers denied the claims, the girl’s parents and other family members stopped the Kallakurichi-Salem highway to get justice.

The two teachers were brought to the police station after the girl turned herself in. They told the police that they had told the girl in a casual way that she was fun and should focus more on her schoolwork.

The SP for Kallakurichi, S Selvakumar, told Indian Express: “The two teachers were taken to the police station so that a probe could be done. They said that because she was so active, they just pushed her to study harder and pay more attention.”

Sunday, a large group of protesters attacked the school and set fire to the buses. Also, the protesters were all over the school while they were there.

Police say that the protesters broke down the barriers they had set up to stop them and also threw rocks at them.

Tamil Nadu DGP C. Sylendra Babu said that 500 police officers have been sent to break up the crowd and stop the protests.

“Instead of protesting peacefully, they started to fight. Must have been hit with a lathi. Now, 500 more police officers have been sent out. As we try to catch everyone who is accused of attacking a school, no one would be let go.

The DGP for Tamil Nadu said that the girl died from natural causes.

“We informed people of a schoolgirl’s death by natural causes. Parents asked for a second autopsy at the hospital. We planned for a small group of people to protest at the school, but they ended up getting more people together “said C Sylendra Babu.