News
Long-running dispute behind attack on student at top Kandy school
View(s):By Shane Seneviratne
A long-standing dispute between two factions of students of a leading school in Kandy had been the reason behind the inhuman assault on a student within the school premises during the G.C.E ordinary level examination this week, police investigations have revealed.
The student who was attacked walking into an exam centre in Kandy. Pic by Dhammika Gunawardana
The student who was sitting the exam at St Anthony’s College Katugastota was assaulted by a group of eight students on June 6 during a break between the Mathematics first paper and second paper.
The students who were also sitting the exam had cornered the victim who came to the canteen. They used cricket bats and wickets to assault him repeatedly. A lady teacher who rushed to the scene could not intervene as several students were assaulting the boy.
The student assaulted was admitted to Kandy National Hospital by the school authorities. He could not sit the second mathematics paper as a result of the incident.
The student was able to sit the rest of the papers at a different examination centre in Kandy.
Police investigations have revealed that the two student groups were posting insulting stories about each other on social media platforms. This was the latest cause for the clash which had been going on for some time between the groups.
Katugastota Police Chief Inspector J.M Jayasinghe said they had waited until the students who were involved in the assault completed their examinations.
Six students of the eight students were arrested on Thursday after the examination ended and produced in courts on Friday after being held overnight.
Police said the parents of the students attempted to get them released on police bail but they failed because police had made preparations to produce the students in the Kandy Magistrate’s court.
The students were produced before the magistrate who released them on 10,000 rupee cash bail and two surety bail worth Rs 200,000 for each student.
The Magistrate also ordered the students to appear in court on October 24.
Meanwhile, the College’s Principal Rector Rev Fr Henry Bernard Wijeratne told the media yesterday that strict disciplinary action would be taken against the offenders and they would make use of the CCTV footage available for the inquiries.
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