What Director Mari Selvaraj Said About Attack On Dalit Siblings In Tamil Nadu

Two siblings, aged 17 and 14, were attacked with sickles by a group of students, reportedly on Wednesday night. The duo studies at a government school in Vallioor, Tamil Nadu. Both were victims of caste-based harassment and bullying. The trespassers entered the house of the victims, brutally attacked them and fled. The children were admitted to a government hospital, where they are under intensive care.

The incident was recently condemned by director Mari Selvaraj. He posted a picture of the blood seen on the stairs of the victim’s house. Along with that, he tweeted, “Ask someone soon to find out the story of the hot blood dripping down these stairs for the past two days. If it dries up and makes it an old wound and lets everyone pass easily, your heart will start pleading with everyone without even knowing it.”

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin too expressed his concern in a tweet. It read, “It shows how much the casteism poison has crept into young students. It is intolerable to see such violence due to caste.”

The mother of the two victims told The New Indian Express that the school (the kids were studying in) is not safe for her children. She said, “My son had to undergo mental agony due to the casteist attitude meted out to him by the intermediate caste students at the school.” She further revealed that the upper-caste students used to make him buy food and cigarettes with his own money. She claimed, “They snatched money from my son and hurled casteist slurs. He had to suffer a lot; from being forced to whistle when a teacher was taking class, to fetching water for the intermediate caste students.”

A case has been registered by the police under the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act and the attempted murder section. The Superintendent of Police, N Silambarasan told The Indian Express that six students were taken into custody, remanded and sent to a juvenile observation home.