On September 19, sibling survivors of Nanguneri caste crime began writing their school quarterly exams in the plastic surgery ward of the Tirunelveli Medical College Super Speciality Hospital where they are being treated. The 17-year-old victim, who is studying in Class 12, wrote his English paper while his 13-year-old sister, a Class 7 student, wrote her Tamil paper. The exams are likely to conclude by the end of this month.
The Education Department assigned school teachers from various schools in Tirunelveli district as scribes to the survivors. Teachers were also assigned to tutor the 12th-grade student in core subjects to ensure that he was not falling behind. He was also given accountancy lessons for two hours daily, since earlier this month.
Both survivors, who belong to the Paraiyar community, are students of Concordia Higher Secondary School in Nanguneri. According to the relatives of children, students belonging to the Maravar community bullied the boy, used casteist slurs, and discriminated against him in every possible way to make him stop being an extraordinary student in his class. They allegedly targeted him because he excelled in his studies.
On August 9, a group of six minors barged into the survivor's house and attacked him with machetes. The survivor's sister who tried to rescue him was also attacked. The duo were admitted to the Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital for treatment following the incident which created shockwaves in Tamil Nadu.
Read: Brutal attack on two Dalit teens exposes caste fanaticism among school kids in TN