Police in Chennai have arrested two men for allegedly stripping, beating, and abusing a 17-year-old Dalit boy who had gone to meet a girl at her relatives’ house in Secretariat Colony on Friday, September 12.
The accused have been identified as Saravanan, said to be a former BJP functionary, and his brother Logesh. According to police, the girl’s relatives confined the boy in a room and then called Saravanan. When he arrived, Saravanan and his brother allegedly assaulted the boy, stripped him, and hurled casteist abuses.
The boy, who belongs to the Scheduled Caste (Adi Dravidar) community, has been friends for years with the girl, who is from the Most Backward Class (Vanniyar) community. They continued to stay in touch through social media even after moving to different schools.
“The boy was beaten badly and humiliated. Saravanan used caste slurs against him,” a police officer said. The teenager is now receiving treatment at Kilpauk Medical College (KMC) Hospital.
Police have booked the accused under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act along with multiple provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including charges of obscene acts, voluntarily causing hurt, attempt to murder, and criminal intimidation.
