A Class 8 student was injured after being attacked with a machete by his classmate after a month-old fight over a pencil between them turned violent in Tamil Nadu’s Tirunelveli district on Tuesday, police said, adding that doctors stated the condition of the minor to be out of danger.
“Both the boys are friends, and used to sit together on the same bench,” assistant commissioner of police of Palayamkottai, Tirunelveli, Suresh (goes by single name) told reporters after conducting inquiries at the private school where the incident took place.
“They fought over a pencil and stopped speaking to each other. One boy attacked the other using a machete. The victim has suffered injuries in three places, but he is out of danger. The social science teacher who tried to stop him also sustained hand injury,” he added.
Police have sent the boy in conflict with law to the child welfare committee (CWC) and members of the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB). “He hid the machete inside his school bag,” the police officer said. According to the preliminary probe, the victim had borrowed a pencil and did not return it.
The school management admitted the student and the teacher to a nearby private hospital.
{{/usCountry}}The school management admitted the student and the teacher to a nearby private hospital.
{{/usCountry}}“He has got cuts on his head, hand and legs,” The injured boy’s father told reporters. “We are being told that they were fighting over a pencil, but I don’t think that can be a motive. Who will plan and bring a machete from home to attack a classmate over a pencil?,” he added.
However, the issue quickly turned into political controversy. BJP state president Nainar Nagendran urged chief minister MK Stalin to get to the bottom of the crime and create awareness among children against violence. “It is very dangerous that under the chaotic rule of Mr. @mkstalin. Murders, robberies, sexual crimes and caste-based attacks are on the rise every day. The law and order situation in Tamil Nadu has deteriorated to the point where even school children are carrying deadly weapons,” Nagendran posted on X. “Violence has taken root in the minds of our children to the point of them hiding a sickle in a school bag and attacking a fellow student over a pencil,” he added.