TIRUNELVELI: A Class XII student, who suffered head injury in a fight with three Class XI students of his school over wearing wrist band (denoting caste), died on Saturday, two days after undergoing a surgery at the Tirunelveli medical college hospital. Police have arrested three students of Pallakkaal Pothukkudi government higher secondary school near Ambasamudram for murder.
The victim, M Selva Surya, 17, of Pappakudi in Tirunelveli district belonged to most backward class (MBC) while one of the three accused was a dalit and the other two his friends from a minority community. Police said that on April 25, Selva Surya asked the dalit boy why he wore a caste band though he himself (Selva) was wearing one. Some of the students wear coloured bands to identify their caste though the school education department has issued guidelines against it. There was a heated argument between Selva Surya and the dalit boy who soon found support from two of his friends. Things turned violent and one of the accused hit Selva Surya near the left ear with a piece of hollow brick.
