A migrant worker from Northern India was brutally assaulted in front of his wife on a Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) bus near Trichy in the early hours of September 17. Despite passengers notifying the police, no officers arrived at the Trichy bus stand, allowing the attacker to escape.
The incident unfolded on the night of September 16, when a TNSTC bus began its journey from Gudalur in the Nilgiris district to Trichy. At Karur bus station, a North Indian couple boarded the bus, followed by a heavily intoxicated man who took a seat next to them. Upon learning the couple was from North India, the drunken man began verbally harassing and abusing them without any provocation, eventually escalating the situation into a physical assault.
Despite the co-passenger’s attempts to involve the authorities, no police action was taken at the Trichy bus stand, and the accused remains at large.
As the bus neared Trichy in the early hours of September 17, the intoxicated man, who had been verbally harassing the North Indian couple since boarding at Karur, escalated his abuse by physically assaulting the Hindu man, punching him in the head and face. His wife, horrified, began crying and begged the assailant to stop, but the attack continued until other passengers intervened, pulling the assaulter away. The drunken man then threatened the co-passengers for questioning his actions.
A passenger promptly informed the police, requesting them to arrive at Trichy central bus station to arrest the attacker. However, no officers showed up, allowing the accused to escape. The assaulted couple appeared visibly shaken by the unprovoked attack.
A video of the incident, posted on the Behindwoods YouTube channel, has since gone viral, garnering over 3 million views. The comment section has been flooded with strong condemnations of the attack, with many demanding immediate action against the perpetrator.
A Facebook user, Abu Tahir, commented, “Because of people like these, Tamil people working in other states are facing problems.” Others criticized the police’s passive response, with user Venkat calling it “a matter of shame” that no officers arrived at the bus station to apprehend the attacker.
Incidents targeting North Indian Hindus in South India have been on the rise. Last month, a Hindu devotee from North India was assaulted within the Rameshwaram temple by HR and CE workers. Similarly, in March, Shipra Pathak from Uttar Pradesh claimed she was harassed and assaulted near Paramakudi during a pilgrimage with her family.
In December, a scuffle at the Sri Ranganatha Swamy temple in Srirangam left two Andhra Pradesh devotees and three guards injured, following tensions between Ayyappa devotees and private guards.
Tamil Nadu: Ruckus at Srirangam temple as devotees, security guards clash
Chaos ensued at the Sri Ranganatha Swamy Temple in Trichy as temple guards allegedly attacked Ayyappa devotees from Andhra Pradesh.
The devotees, on a pilgrimage that involves travelling across Tamil… pic.twitter.com/4rnd8kHvTW
— IndiaToday (@IndiaToday) December 12, 2023
Last month, a North Indian woman was assaulted by an auto-rickshaw driver in Bengaluru, leading to widespread national outrage. In a similar incident, a North Indian Hindu man was recently attacked for no reason on a Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) bus near Trichy. Despite complaints from other passengers, the police failed to apprehend the accused, who managed to flee the scene.
Critics have pointed out that certain Dravidian and Tamil nationalist groups have verbally targeted North Indian migrant workers. DMK ministers such as K. Ponmudi, MP Dayanidhi Maran, and former MPs Senthilkumar and R.S. Bharathi have made disparaging remarks about North Indians, referring to them as “pani puri walas,” “fit for toilet cleaning,” and “pan chewers.” What started as verbal hostility appears to be escalating into physical violence, as evidenced by this latest attack involving a drunken man.
