Casteist and violent students were attacked by affected/provoked students

Chennai Dr. Ambedkar Law College: A Student is about to attack other students

Birth anniversary of Muthuramalinga Thevar divided Dr.Ambedkar Law College in Chennai; wit the result violent broke out.

Believed to be instigated by opposition party (AIDMK) and Caste Hindus - Mukkulathars
(http://www.dinamalar.com/Arasiyalnewsdetail.asp?News_id=5069&cls=&ncat=TN)


News From DH:
Many schools and colleges involved in agitation throughout TamailNadu.
Law colleges across the State remained closed.
(Deccan Herald; 13/11/2008)



Law colleges across the State remained closed on 13/11/2008 in protest against the violence witnessed in Dr Ambedkar Law College here on Wednesday.

Television footage showed a group of students armed with iron rods and wooden staffs beating another group and the shocked public looking in disbelief on Wednesday evening. Later, police intervened after getting permission from the college principal.

Police said the root cause of the violence was the objection raised by Dalits to a poster put up by caste Hindus on October 30 to mark the birth anniversary of Muthuramalinga Thevar in which Dr Ambedkar¢s name was omitted in the reference to the college. Efforts by the police and college authorities to defuse tension failed and things came to a boil on Wednesday when Dalit students were ambushed as they were coming out after writing a semester examination.

The armed group lay in wait for students writing semester examinations and attacked them when they came out of the examination halls.

The police moved in and arrested seven students after the violence subsided. Additional Commissioner of Police (North Chennai) Abhay Kumar Singh told reporters on Thursday that more arrests would follow. He said one Assistant Commissioner of Police and an inspector attached to the police station in whose jurisdiction the incident took place, had been suspended and four sub-inspectors had been transferred.

In a retaliatory strike, a government bus was torched in the early hours of Thursday in north Chennai by activists of the Ambedkar People¢s Revolutionary Organisation.

The Government late on Thursday evening transferred Chennai Police Commissioner R Sekhar, Joint Commissioner( North) Abhay Kumar Singh and two deputy commissioners under whose jurisdiction the law college comes. Mr Sekhar was replaced as Commissioner of Police by ADGP( Civil Supplies) K Radhakrishnan. This was in addition to the suspension of an assistant commissioner of police and an inspector attached to Esplanade Police Station and transfer of four sub-inspectors announced earlier in the day. In another move, the Government appointed A K Viswanathan, Director of Vigilance and Anti-corruption as Additional Commissioner( Law and Order).

The violence in the Chennai college provoked protests by law students in Salem, Madurai, Coimbatore and Tirunelveli on Thursday. In Coimbatore, students ransacked the halls where semester examinations were going on. Window panes were broken in heavy stone-throwing and steel chairs and tables were smashed.

The government ordered a judicial inquiry by retired judge Shanmugham, besides ordering the closure of the Chennai college and placing its principal under suspension. These measures were announced by Law Minister Durai Murugan in the State Assembly.

Noisy scenes were witnessed when AIADMK whip D Jayakumar demanded that CM M Karunanidhi resign on moral grounds. Durai Murugan¢s disparaging comment against AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalitha led to loud protests from AIADMK members and they were evicted en masse on the orders of Speaker R Avudaiappan. Later, the members of the MDMK walked out in protest, too.