Chennai: An alleged attack on a Brahmin boy in Tamil Nadu’s Tirunelveli district has outraged the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), while the police say they are yet to find evidence of the incident.
The 12-year-old’s father approached the local police on 21 September, complaining that four men had cut the sacred thread worn by the boy while he was on his way to a religious event.
In his complaint filed at the Perumalpuram police station, the father, Sundar, said four bike-borne men surrounded his son, Akhilesh, at around 4.30 pm Saturday, tore his sacred thread and warned him never to wear it again.
The Tirunelveli police, however, said they had not been able to confirm the incident as closed-circuit camera footage and local inquiries failed to substantiate it.
City Police Commissioner Rupesh Kumar Meena told ThePrint: “Based on CCTV footage and a local probe, it doesn’t look like the alleged attack took place.”
He added that the boy had not been able to properly describe what had happened, either.
The police, who recorded a Community Service Register (CSR), haven’t been able to proceed with the case due to lack of supporting evidence, Meena said. A CSR or daily diary is a record kept in police stations for non-cognisable offences.
ThePrint reached Sundar for comment over the telephone but was told the petitioner was unavailable to talk.
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‘DMK wants to eradicate Brahmins’
The state BJP said the issue was a result of the ruling DMK’s continuing anti-Brahmin sentiments.
Tamil Nadu’s BJP Vice President Narayan Thirupathy told ThePrint there was no security for the Brahmin community in Tamil Nadu. “Because Brahmins are a minority in the state,” he said, adding that the police’s “inability” to find evidence exposed their attitude and also that of the administration.
“The DMK wants to eradicate the community. We want the state government to take immediate action,” he said.
The BJP has attacked the ruling DMK regime over “discrimination” against Brahmins. In May 2023, state BJP chief K. Annamalai said the community had been “hounded and threatened” for decades in the state, comparing them to Jews during World War 2.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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