After few men in Thummanayakkam Patti in Madurai district forcibly pulled off the headscarves of children of Classes II and III on November 25, about 100 members of Muslim families filed a petition to the collector L Subramanian on Monday, according to TNIE report.

“On November 25, few men at Therkku Street forcibly removed headscarves of children from Class II and III who were on their way to the Panchayat Union Middle School. They also beat up the students. Later, a police complaint was filed against the accused”, J Mohammed Siddiq Ali from Thummanayakkam told TNIE.

After the incident, about 50 students have stopped going to school.

“My child came crying back home on November 25. After that, she is afraid to go to the streets. We are also scared to send our children”, said A Juhara, mother of a child told TNIE.

The Muslim community members said that the villagers have been torturing them after they filed a complaint against the sand mafia about two years ago.