THOOTHUKUDI: Around 100 people, including parents of students and Hindu Munnani members, staged a road blockade at Athur near Tiruchendur on Tuesday demanding a case against a school headmaster who allegedly forced students to remove the sacred bead chains worn for the Kulasekarapattinam Dasara festival and assaulted one of them.

Headmaster Ranjit Singh apologised to the parents after police intervened.

The Dasara festival at the Muthuramman temple in Kulasekarapattinam, near Tiruchendur, began with the flag hoisting on October 11. For the festival, devotees from Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi and Tenkasi districts wear sacred bead chains, tie the sacred thread (kappu), observe a ten-day fast and worship the goddess.

According to police sources, Ranjit Singh, headmaster of a government-aided higher secondary school at Athur, spotted the students wearing the chains and tied the kappu, and removed both before coming to school the next day.

It is also alleged that the headmaster himself removed the chain from a student who refused and beat him. The student told his parents about the incident.

Following this, parents and Hindu Munnani members gathered in front of the school on Tuesday morning, raised slogans against the headmaster and staged a protest.

Athur police arrived on receiving information and held talks with them. The police registered a case against the headmaster under Section 295 A of IPC, based on the complaint filed by the protesters.