TENSION and protest waves prevailed in Karaiyiruppu village of Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu, over the death of Comrade Ashok, 26, district treasurer of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI),  who was hacked by a gang belonging to caste Hindu hooligans on June 12th night.

Comrade Ashok was hacked to death by a gang, while he was walking home around 10.45 pm. The gang threw the body on a nearby railway track. On hearing noises, the residents came out of their homes, and on seeing the body, immediately resorted to a protest.

The situation escalated when the fellow comrades and relatives of Com Ashok blocked the busy Madurai road, demanding the immediate arrest of the assailants. The agitators withdrew the blockade around 2.30 am and allowed the police to send the body of Comrade Ashok to the Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital for a post-mortem after the law-enforcers assured them that the culprits would be arrested at the earliest.

Comrade Ashok belonged to a Scheduled Caste family, and was known as a lovable person and touched many people with his kindness and tireless work for the downtrodden, beyond casteist lines, as a committed worker of DYFI. He was also an area committee member of CPI(M) Tirunelveli committee.

The protesters said Comrade Ashok’s mother, Aavudaiyammal, was assaulted by the youth belonging to an intermediate caste two weeks ago, when she and her son were returning home on a bike with a bundle of grass. The bundle accidentally hit three intermediate caste youth walking on the road, leading to an altercation in which Aavudaiyammal was assaulted.

Following the incident, though Comrade Ashok sought the registration of a case under the SC/ST Act, the Thatchanallur police registered a case under other sections. After that, the police filed false cases by getting a complaint from the            so-called intermediate caste forces against Comrade Ashok. In this background, the casteist forces planned to eliminate Comrade Ashok and executed their plan.

“If the police had registered the case as insisted by him and arrested the culprits, Ashok’s murder could have been averted,” leaders of the CPI(M) said, demanding action against the policemen “who failed in their duty”.

CPI(M) state secretary K Balakrishnan, who participated in the agitation, held talks with the sub-collector of Tirunelveli, Manish Naranavare.

“Besides arresting all the culprits involved in the murder, the officials should act tough against members of a particular family, who have been involved in such heinous crimes for the past several years. Besides relocating this family from the panic-stricken village, the official machinery should act tough against the perpetrators of the crime,” Balakrishnan said.

On the next day, the DYFI and CPI(M) activists across the state held demonstrations condemning the murder of Comrade Ashok. In Kerala too, DYFI cadres held demonstrations across the state.

DYFI all India president Md Riyas rushed to Tirunelveli and met the family of Comrade Ashok. He vehemently condemned the killing of the DYFI leader. He  led the funeral procession of Comrade Ashok in which S Bala, state secretary, N Rejees kumar, state president and MNS Venkataraman, state secretariat member of CPI(M) and K G Baskaran, district secretary participated.