TW: Details of physical assault
Three minors have been booked for ragging their batchmate at a government-run Industrial Training Institute (ITI) hostel in Madurai, after a video showing the assault began doing the rounds on social media. The incident took place on September 18 at a hostel under the Tamil Nadu government’s Department of Kallar Reclamation. Hostel warden Balasubramanian has been suspended.
The video was posted online on September 23, following which the victim’s father filed a police complaint. Police have stated that this was not a caste-based crime but an instance of ragging.
The 39-second clip shows three students stripping the 14-year-old boy of his clothes, assaulting him repeatedly. Even as the boy is seen pleading, the trio repeatedly attack him using slippers.
The victim, a first-year ITI student from Varusanadu in Theni district, had joined the institute after passing class eight. The accused, also first-year students but older than the victim, were aged between 15 and 17. Two of them are from Madurai, and one from Theni.
An ITI course in Tamil Nadu is a vocational training program that provides students with practical skills in technical and non-technical trades, preparing them for employment or self-employment. Students can join ITI after completing classes 8, 10, or 12, depending on the trade.
Based on the father’s complaint, the Chekkanurani police registered a case against the three minors for voluntarily causing hurt, criminal intimidation, and ragging. The accused were produced before the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) on Tuesday, September 23.