The State government has put in place a slew of measures, including patrolling areas around schools, in the wake of increased incidents of abduction of school students, Deputy Chief Minster M.K.Stalin told the Assembly on Wednesday.
Replying to a calling attention motion on the recent incidents, including the abduction and murder of two children in Coimbatore, Mr. Stalin said though the police had been prompt in taking action against the culprits, they were not able to completely prevent cases where culprits were known to the victims.
“Still we have asked the police to take stern action,” he said. Police have stepped up monitoring and patrolling will be done in the morning and evening during school hours.
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School managements have been asked to hold discussion with the parents to ensure the safety of children, besides collecting details about drivers of school vehicles. One of the suggestions was that teachers should be at the gate to ensure safe transport of students and safety awareness should be created among the students.
The government has asked officials of Police, Education and Transport departments to take adequate safety measures.
Asserting that peace in the State was not disturbed because of the adequate measures taken to maintain law and order, Mr. Stalin said media reports on personal incidents such as elopements created an impression that they were kidnappings.
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“A majority of the cases are related to love affairs, property disputes, family disputes. Cases involving kidnapping of children for ransom are few and far between,” he explained.
He listed the incidents, including the kidnapping of Chennai student Keerthivasan, and the breakthrough achieved by the police quickly in these cases.
Stressing that Mohanraj, the prime accused in the abduction and murder of two schoolchildren in Coimbatore, was killed when police opened fire in self-defence, he said an inquiry by a judicial magistrate was ordered because the accused died in police custody.
As regards the complaint about the attempted kidnapping of Triplicane student Dineshkumar, Mr. Stalin said money lending seemed to be the issue behind the incident. The Thanjavur girl Seethalakshmi who was missing since Thursday was traced at the Tirunelveli railway station. She had gone to visit her grandmother.