Chennai police plan to rein in violent college gangs endangering public safety

This comes after the recent incident where visuals showed Pachaiyappa’s College students attacking each other with swords on the roads in broad daylight.

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Days after the visuals of Pachaiyappa’s College students attacking each other with swords on the roads went public, the Chennai Police have identified 90 such students, also known as ‘Route Thalas’ from three city colleges. Route Thalas are ‘elected’ for managing a particular bus or train route which is taken by college students.

The police also held discussions with the principals of the three colleges – Pachaiyappa’s, Presidency college and New college – whose students are infamously involved in such violent incidents.

According to a report in the Times of India, a meeting was convened by the Joint Commissioner of Police (East) R Sudhakar on Thursday in Egmore. It was decided in the meeting that students who are found guilty of creating violence will be told to undergo compulsory community service, which includes regulating road traffic on busy stretches.

The police have also decided to treat such students as regular offenders and open a crime sheet in the police station. They would also be told to execute a surety bond stating that they will desist from violent activities. Students who violate the bond will be detained under Goondas Act, if necessary.

As the principals mentioned that the role of former students of these colleges was significant in such Route Thala issues, police said that they have been collecting details of those students as well. Chennai Police will also deploy a police mentor in the college premises to conduct regular interaction sessions with the students and their parents.

The crackdown follows the incident on Tuesday in which college students were seen attacking each other using machetes in broad daylight. While reports stated that the fight was between two groups of students studying in Pachaiyappa’s College, the attack left two students injured. The fight over the title of ‘Route Thala’ is said to have led to the confrontation between the two student groups.

It was only last month that the Kilpauk police arrested 17 students belonging to Pachaiyappa's College for creating ruckus atop a moving bus. The video of them celebrating ‘Bus day’ by climbing atop a bus and sitting on it, with their feet dangling over the windscreen went viral on social media.