An 11-year-old Dalit boy from V. Agaram Government School in Tamil Nadu’s Villupuram district was beaten with a bamboo stick by his school teacher on March 14. Following the assault, the boy reportedly complained of hazy vision and was admitted to the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) in Puducherry. He later underwent surgery for nerve damage. The Villupuram police registered a First Information Report (FIR) in connection with the incident.
R Velmurugan, district secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) for South Chennai, shared images of the victim, M. Sadhusundar, on social media, showing him recovering after undergoing two surgeries on his head and abdomen. Velmurugan alleged that the teacher, identified as Sengenni, had struck Sadhusundar on the head, fracturing his skull and causing nerve damage. He also claimed that no action had been taken against the teacher.
However, Villupuram Superintendent of Police (SP) P. Saravanan told The News Minute that an FIR had been registered against Sengenni on the day of the assault and that he was suspended by the school education department on March 15.
“According to the complaint submitted to the police, the boy was hit on his hands by his Physical Education teacher, Sengenni. Later, after he became unwell, he was rushed to the hospital, where doctors diagnosed nerve damage in his head. We have sought medical advice from JIPMER to determine the cause of the nerve damage, as there are no external injuries,” Saravanan told TNM.
The SP added that Sengenni has not been booked under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act since he belongs to an SC community. However, he said the FIR would be altered based on the doctors’ findings.