The vice-chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, L. Murugan, at a press conference here on Wednesday, said that an “external force” may have been involved in Dalit student S. Anitha’s death.
Stating that the commission had asked the Superintendent of Police (SP) and the District Collector to file a report, he said, “We have received the report from them. They have given us an interim report. Inquiries are on. After we receive the inquiry report, we will talk about our next course of action and submit our recommendations to the government.”
The SP and the Collector said that they were waiting for the medical analysis report in the case, he added.
ADVERTISEMENT
Stating that the members of the commission had spoken to Anitha’s family, Mr. Murugan said that she was eligible for degrees in veterinary science, agriculture and aeronautical engineering at MIT. “She had already prepared to join a BVSc course, and in that situation, why should she attempt this [suicide]? Did someone provoke her? We have asked the SP to look into that angle. I think she could have been threatened. External force was there,” he said.
Stating that the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) was essential as students needed to be able to compete at the national level, Mr. Murugan pointed out that Madhya Pradesh had coaching centres for SC/ST students from Class XIII onwards. “Here [in Tamil Nadu] also, we should prepare our students early for IIT, NEET and the common law entrance [test]. There should be coaching centres,” he said.
Mr. Murugan also spoke of the prevalence of atrocities against Dalits in the State and related issues such as the filing of cases under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and the disbursal of compensation to the victims. Stating that inspections had been carried out in eight districts, he said that the commission had received over 5,000 petitions alleging atrocities.
ADVERTISEMENT