Students of Pachaiyappa’s College and Government Arts College, Nandanam pelted each other with stones in the Choolaimedu subway, on March 5. As part of the annual ‘Bus Day’ celebrations, Arts College boys rode in a decorated bus on route 41D. The bus passed on Periyar EVR high road in front of Pachaiyappa’s College, on Thursday morning. In the previous years, celebration buses have taken Nelson Manickam road, to avoid trouble. When the bus was returning on Nelson Manickam road, in the afternoon, it was stoned in the subway.
According to local resident Thyagarajan, around 100 Pachaiyappa’s College boys came walking along the railway tracks at about 12.30 in the afternoon. As the 41D route celebration bus passed through the subway under the tracks, they began stoning it. Nandanam College boys got out of the bus and threw the stones back at them. This fight went on for about an hour. He added that a police officer then came in a jeep and warned them to leave, brandishing his revolver at them. They threw big stones and broke his jeep’s windows, before fleeing.
The police haven’t yet traced the culprits and no arrests have been made. A case will be filed against Pachaiyappa’s students, said Inspector U. K. Pasupathy of Choolaimedu police station. Pasupathy suspects the motive behind the attack to be past enmity between students of both colleges.
The officer, whose Tata Sumo jeep was damaged, is a crime branch inspector of the Aminjikarai police station. He was on his way from Metha Nagar, when the incident occurred.
Traffic came to a standstill on either side of the subway for more than an hour. Trains also did not run for more than 20 minutes.
Railway officials said that the Railway Protection Force is also investigating the attack.
Murugesan, an auto driver sustained minor injuries on his head and leg. “They were fighting like mad men. They didn’t listen to us when we asked them not to injure bystanders,” he said.
Speaking to the Daily Word, Rizwan, a student of the college, boldly said, “We won’t relinquish our rowdy-ism to any other college,” as he nursed a 100ml bottle of Mcdowell's brandy under his arm.
Annual ‘Bus Day’ celebrations of men’s colleges, in February and March, have become a recipe for disaster, leading to violence, traffic jams and damage to public property. A ‘Bus Day’ poster in Pachaiyappa’s College reading “Dil Irundha Vaa” (Come, if you have the guts), clearly spells out the stuff the revelers are made off.
