Rameswaram, 19 Nov

A 21-year-old man was arrested for allegedly stabbing a class 12 girl to death in broad daylight while she was on her way to school here on Wednesday, police said.

The girl had reportedly rejected the man’s love proposal, they said.

Political parties, including PMK, BJP, criticised the ruling DMK government over the incident.

While AIADMK demanded that the suspect be awarded with maximum punishment for the crime, Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) leader Anbumani Ramadoss alleged that only 'antisocial elements' were safe under the DMK regime in the State.

The 21-year-old victim lived with her family in Cherankottai near the island town.

According to the Police, the accused, identified as Muniyaraj, a resident of the same area, had been allegedly stalking the schoolgirl for days and pressuring her to accept his love despite repeated refusals.

The girl's father, Mariyappan, a fisherman, had recently confronted the youth over his alleged harassment and warned him against troubling her, according to police and local reports.

Enraged by her continued rejection and the warning from her family, the man allegedly decided to attack her when she was heading to school on Wednesday morning, officers said.

The accused confronted the girl on a public road before allegedly stabbing her multiple times with a knife, causing grievous injuries, police said.

The teenager collapsed at the spot and succumbed to her injuries before any medical help could reach her, a preliminary inquiry has revealed.

Passersby who witnessed the attack alerted police, following which personnel from Port Police Station rushed to the scene and recovered the body, officials said.

The body was sent to a government hospital for post‑mortem examination, and a case of murder has been registered, they added.

After the assault, the accused fled the spot, but was tracked down by a special police team, officers said.

He has been taken into custody for interrogation, and further investigation is on, they said, adding that appropriate sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita have been invoked.

AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami expressed shock over the murder.

"Who is responsible for a situation where even a girl student going to school in the morning is not safe? Where did the accused get the audacity to murder a school girl in broad daylight?" he asked in a series of comments in a social media post.

Hitting out at the Tamil Nadu government, he said, "Such heinous crimes are the result of the complete erosion of law and order on women's safety under the Stalin-model DMK regime."

Palaniswami urged the government to ensure that the suspect receives the maximum punishment.

Slamming the DMK government over the incident, PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss said his party has urged the government to provide police protection at bus stops and near schools, where students and young women are subjected to sexual harassment.

"The DMK did not heed the demand of the PMK, and this has led to the brutal murder of an innocent student in Rameswaram. DMK government should take responsibility for this," he said in a party statement on Wednesday.

He demanded that the accused be punished with the death penalty and sought a solatium of Rs 25 lakh for the victim's family.

Reacting to the incident, BJP Tamil Nadu unit President Nainar Nagenthran said crimes against women have not reduced under the DMK regime.

"For the past 4.5 years, the BJP has been spearheading numerous protests and demonstrations to strengthen women's safety."

Offering condolences to the kin of the victim in a social media post, Nagenthran said, "Every day we have to come across media reports of women being subjected to harassment in public places. Despite police personnel being deployed in large numbers, we still have to protect our own children at home."

"Our National Democratic Alliance will deliver swift and decisive justice to end this reign of terror by the DMK," he wrote.