Justice R. Mahadevan of the Madras High Court has orally directed the police to provide appropriate security and protection to students of Indian Institute of Technology–Madras, who recently participated in a beef-eating protest on the campus.
The judge also directed the Additional Public Prosecutor to get instructions on a plea moved by Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle, a student organisation in the institute, seeking transfer of investigation into the attack on research scholar Sooraj for participating in a protest on May 30 against the restrictions brought in by the Central government on the sale of cattle for slaughtering. The organisation wanted the court to transfer the investigation to any officer other than Mylapore DC of Police Balakrishnan, who is handling the case.
According to the petitioner, another student, Manish Kumar Singh, attacked Sooraj and his friend Anoop on May 30 in the canteen for participating in the beef-eating protest. As the victims suffered severe injuries, they were rushed to the institute hospital from where they were referred to a private hospital.
