Tamil Nadu boy murders classmate for body-shaming him

KALLAKURICHI: A 17-year-old boy murdered his classmate in the wee hours of Sunday allegedly for body-shaming him in a village near Tirukovilur in Kallakurichi district. The boy was arrested and produced by police before the juvenile justice board, which sent him to an observation home in Cuddalore district.
Tirukovilur sub-inspector Sivachandran said the accused admitted to murdering his friend for body-shaming him, inappropriately touching him on the chest and thighs and verbally abusing his parents and elder sister despite several requests not to do so.
The deceased and the accused, both Class XII students in a private CBSE school, were close friends and the former used to tease the latter about his body. The accused, who is obese with a larger than the normal chest, told police that his friend used to pinch him on the chest and thighs and ridicule him for his body shape.
The accused had lodged a complaint with the school management and a teacher summoned the deceased and his parents and warned them of severe action if he continued to abuse his friend.
Unable to bear the torture, the accused decided to eliminate his friend. He invited his friend to a party and picked him up from his house around 7.30pm on his uncle's motorcycle on Saturday.
They bought food from a hotel and reached a secluded place on Santhaipettai bypass road.
Boy confesses to crime, felt bullied
They started eating when the accused fetched a sickle, which he had hid in the two-wheeler, and attacked him from behind on the neck.
The boy sustained severe cut injuries on the neck and arms. The accused also fetched a small knife from the two-wheeler and stabbed his friend on the chest several times before fleeing to his uncle's poultry farm in the same village. Police recovered the body of the deceased on Sunday morning and sent it for postmortem examination. Initial inquiries revealed that the deceased was last seen with the accused.
The boy's parents, on learning that police are looking for him, brought him to the police station. The boy confessed to murdering his friend. "The boy confessed to the crime. The boy has complaints of epileptic fits and high blood sugar levels. Constant bullying and body shaming by his friend forced him to murder his friend in a brutal manner. We have begun a thorough probe," said Sivachandran.
In the meantime, the parents and relatives of the deceased organised a protest claiming that several others might have been involved in the crime and argued that one boy could not have committed the gory murder without the assistance of others.
The Tirukovilur police booked the juvenile under Section 302 (punishment for murder) and produced him before the juvenile justice board which sent him to an observation home in Cuddalore district.