Campus violence: Madras HC seeks report on criminal cases filed in last 10 yrs

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has asked the State government to furnish a report regarding the list of criminal cases registered regarding clashes between college students in the past 10 years and opined that it's high time that the government cracks down on campus violence.

Hearing a bail petition moved by two students of Pachaiyappa's College, who were booked in a murder case, Justice AD Jagadish Chandra asked the parents who were present at the court: "Who is now responsible for the family which lost its son?" The court, further, observed that the parents were called to realise the pain the family of the deceased student is going through and to understand the consequences of their children's act.

While the counsel for the petitioners sought the court to consider the future of the students and sought bail, the judge refused to consider the booked duo as regular students as they were not attending classes regularly. "Students are creating a nuisance in the name of bus day and train day; the government has to do something to control the situation," observed the judge and posted the matter to next week with a direction to submit the list of criminal cases.

On October 4, a group of students from Pachaiyappa's College including the petitioners chased and brutally attacked A Sundar, a student of Presidency College near Chennai Central suburban railway station. Later, Sundar was admitted to Rajiv Gandhi Government Hospital for treatment but succumbed to injuries on October 9.

Based on a complaint lodged by the father of the deceased student, E Anandan, a daily wager, Periamet police registered a case and arrested five students under sections 103 and 109 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.