Six held for assaulting, urinating on SC youths in TN; political parties denounce atrocities
Tirunelveli (TN), Nov 2: Six persons were arrested allegedly for assaulting, stripping and urinating on two Scheduled Caste youths from the district, police said on Thursday.
Several political parties denounced the atrocities on the SC youths and called for concrete measures to prevent such crimes in the future.
The six persons have been identified as M Ponmani, S Nallamuthu, R Ayiram, B Ramar, M Siva and Lakshmanan, police said.
All in the age group of 21 to 25 years, they were said to be under the influence of alcohol when they accosted the youths and asked them to reveal their caste identity, police said.
When the two Dalit youths revealed their caste identity, the gang of six assaulted and stripped them and them urinated on them.
The two youths were returning after a bath from Thamirabarani river when they were assaulted, Thachanallur police said.
The police have registered cases against the six accused under various sections of the IPC and also under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
According to the victims, who are currently undergoing treatment at the Tirunelveli Medical College hospital here, the gang robbed them of two mobile phones, silver jewellery and extorted Rs 5,000 from them.
"They appeared to be high on ganja (cannabis). They called us and asked about our caste and native place, when we were getting ready to ride our bike after a bath in the river on Monday. No sooner had we answered than they began attacking us with sticks and knives," the victims said.
One of the injured had to contact his office to have Rs 5,000 digitally transferred to the gang. Once the money was credited, the perpetrators took the victim's bike to withdraw money from a nearby ATM.
"However, two of them fled upon seeing the police on patrol and we took advantage of the situation and escaped," the victims told reporters.
Condemning the "heinous act", AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami said the incident proved that caste-based atrocities have become rampant after the DMK came to power.
"This is a shameful act. Instead of making it a case of robbery, the police should take stringent action on those involved. The government should provide appropriate compensation to the affected SC youth," Palaniswami said in a post on social media platform X.
Strongly condemning the attack on the SC youth, CPI state secretary R Mutharasan said such human rights violations are unacceptable in a civilised society.
"It's regrettable that such incidents are on the rise in Tirunelveli district. Concrete steps should be taken with political determination and social concern to prevent such incidents from happening in the future," he said in a release, and sought a probe and appropriate punishment for the culprits.
Pattali Makkal Katchi founder S Ramadoss called for strict action on the culprits.
TNCC legislature party leader K Selvaperunthagai, too, condemned the incident.
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
