Police injured in school campus clashes in south India, local media report
People walk past damaged school buses that were set on fire by a mob in the school campus after a female student's death in Kallakurichi district in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, India, July 17, 2022. PHOTO: REUTERS
At least 20 police officers were injured on Sunday in southern India while trying to prevent a mob from burning buses parked in the grounds of a school after a female student committed suicide, local media reported.
Protesters forcibly entered the school campus in Kallakurichi district in southern Tamil Nadu state and set school buses and police vehicles on fire as they demanded justice over the student's death, The Times of India newspaper reported on its website.
The teenager was found dead in the hostel of the private school on Wednesday. She allegedly left a suicide note naming two teachers and saying that they had tortured her and some other students by forcing them to study all the time, local media reports said.
Read more: Tamil Nadu — another Kashmir for India
Parents and protesters have demanded an independent investigation of the incident.
Teachers and school management have denied all allegations of mistreating students including the dead girl, while local media reported that police had found no evidence against them either.
The injured police officials were taken to a local hospital and security has been ramped up by local government officials.