In a horrific incident, a class 12 student was brutally stabbed to death on her way to school by a 21-year-old youth in broad daylight for rejecting his proposal at the island enclave Rameswaram in the Ramanathapuram district on Wednesday, sparking outrage and triggering condemnation from the Opposition parties.
The accused, identified as Muniyandi, hailing from the same locality, had been arrested, police said.
According to police, the girl was on her way to the school when the youth, Muniyandi, confronted and compelled her to accept his love. On being rejected, he stabbed her multiple times in a fit of rage and fled the scene, leaving her in a pool of blood. The girl died on the spot.
The police shifted the body to the Government Hospital for autopsy. The family and relatives of the victim resorted to a road blockade in front of the hospital demanding that the accused be handed over to them, but the police pacified them to give it up.
The accused continued to harass the girl for long to accept his romantic advances, despite her father having warned him multiple times. The gruesome murder in full public view had sent shockwaves in Rameswaram and elsewhere.
The murder in the pilgrim town had given a handle to the Opposition to train guns on the ruling DMK over the law and order situation and women’s safety. AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, in a post on ‘X’, squarely blamed the Stalin government for being lax on women’s safety. Taking a dig at the government, he said violence against women is continuing at an alarming frequency.
Registering his strong condemnation, PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss, took to ‘X’, saying even school children are not safe under the DMK rule. He charged the DMK government with not taking appropriate steps to ensure safety of women and demanded that the victim girl’s family should be given Rs 25 lakh compensation.