CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) President K Selvaperunthagai on Saturday said that the attack on the CPIM office in Tirunelveli Friday by 'casteist' forces opposed to an inter-caste marriage there was shameful.

Condemning the attack on the CPIM office and assault of the party functionaries by a gang which was on the look-out for an inter-caste couple, Selvaperunthagai said that about 10 persons were arrested by the state police in connection with the attack but the key perpetrators of the attack have not been arrested so far.

Requesting the immediate arrest of the perpetrators of the attack, the TNCC chief said that it is very shameful that an inter-caste couple was subjected to murderous assault for marrying out of caste even 75 years after independence.

Expressing solidarity with the communist party functionaries affected in the attack, Selvaperunthagai said that the state police must handle such incidents with an iron-fist.