Overview
- A 16-year-old Class 11 student, A. Akilan, was found dead at his home and declared dead after being taken to hospital, with police recording the death on Wednesday, October 21.
- The student's mother told police a teacher asked in class who ate beef months earlier and five students—including her son—stood up, after which two classmates allegedly began taunting and assaulting him.
- The family says Akilan reported the harassment to the class teacher and the headmaster but received no effective action, and the boy briefly left to stay with a relative before returning home.
- Peelamedu police registered cases under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Section 3(2)(v) of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and arrested teacher P. Vijayakumar on Thursday, October 22, while the headmaster and two students are being questioned.
- The Tamil Nadu State Commission for SC/ST has asked the Coimbatore City Police Commissioner for a report within a week, and the case has raised urgent questions about school complaint handling and student mental health support.