Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan wrote to his Tamil Nadu counterpart Edappadi K Palaniswami on Thursday over an IIT-Madras student being attacked for organising a beef party.
Expressing dismay over the assault on Sooraj, a research scholar, Vijayan asked Palaniswami to intervene and contain the situation.
“You would certainly agree that elite institution like IIT Madras is a place for high learning, open debates and discussions and the students irrespective of their background have the right of preference to their choice of food,” Vijayan wrote.
“Any vitriolic and hateful attack on students undermines the secular fabric and hinders the culture of harmony in educational institutions,” he added.
He asked Palaniswami to “intervention to contain the atmosphere of hatred in the institution and direct all the concerned authorities to take action against the perpetrators of violent hate crime against the student at IIT Madras”.
Sooraj R, a PhD Scholar, Department of Aerospace, was allegedly beaten up by some right-wing students. The "beef fest" in the campus to protest the Centre's ban on the sale of cattle for slaughter at animal markets.
The attack left Sooraj’s eye severely bruised. "Sooraj was beaten up badly just for organising this fest," said, Sooraj's friend Nidheesh, adding that the accused were also the students of the IIT.
Tensions escalated when another student, 22-year-old Maneesh Kumar Singh suffered a fracture in his right wrist in retaliation to the attack on Sooraj.
IIT authorities have said an inquiry will be conducted by the institute and appropriate action will be taken based on its outcome.
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