Coimbatore: Protesters set school buses on fire after girl dies by suicide

KALLAKURICHI: The protest over the alleged suicide of a Class XII girl of a private school in Kallakurichi district in north Tamil Nadu turned violent on Sunday with protesters forcibly entering the school premises and setting its buses and a police vehicle on fire. They pelted police personnel with stones, injuring 52, including deputy inspector general (DIG) of police M Pandian and Kallakurichi superintendent of police S Selvakumar. Kallakurichi district collector P N Sridhar denied that police fired in the air twice to quell the violence and said only tear gas shells were used.
Chief minister M K Stalin directed the home secretary and DGP to visit the spot. In view of the tense situation, the Kallakurichi district administration imposed section 144 CrPC in Kallakurichi taluk and few more areas until July 31. Kallakurichi collector Sridhar said the situation was brought under control and requested people not to indulge in violence.
Tamil Nadu home secretary K Phanindra Reddy and DGP C Sylendra Babu visited Kaniyamoor near Chinna Salem in Kallakurichi district on Sunday evening.
The team inspected the private school premises where the protestors torched the school buses and damaged school properties. He told reporters that the case relating to the death of the schoolgirl has been transferred to the CB-CID. "Around 52 police personnel were injured in the violence. We have arrested the school correspondent Ravikumar, secretary Shanthi and principal Sivasankaran. As many as 70 people were arrested for the violence," said Sylendra Babu.
The 17-year-old plus two students was found dead in the hostel of a private matric higher secondary school in Kallakurichi district early Wednesday morning. The school management shifted the girl's body to the Kallakurichi Medical College and Hospital for postmortem examination and informed the police. Meanwhile parents and relatives of the girl blocked roads, alleging foul play in her death. They refused to receive her body. On Thursday, the family members and relatives of the girl blocked the road near the government hospital. Police and revenue officials pacified the protesters, who later dispersed. They blocked the roads again near Kallakurichi bus stand and the government hospital, but they were dispersed by the police.
"We suspect that some fringe elements mingled with protesters and set fire to the school buses and police bus. They went on the rampage in the school premises," said collector Sridhar.
In an appeal to protesters, the girl's parents requested them not to indulge in violence. Sylendra Babu has warned students of stern action if they indulged in violence.