The police say that Ashok Kumar who was thrashed by the public for having misbehaved with a woman on a city bus but Ashok Kumar’s counsel claimed that he was injured due to assault by personnel at the Tirukkazhukundram police station. After a flash strike and road blockade caused havoc in Chennai, and following a direction from the Madras High Court, he was shifted to the private hospital on Wednesday.

A new petition was filed in the court on Friday that the boy hailed from a poor Dalit family and that he had no means to pay the medical bills at the hospital. As the student had suffered injuries while in police custody, and that the government too had admitted to the excesses by placing six police personnel under suspension, it was government's duty to pay the bills, it was submitted.

But the public prosecutor submitted that the sate government was not responsible in anyway for the incident and that it need not pay the medical expenses. The bench ordered then the prosecutor to file his counter by August 23. In the meanwhile, the hospital shall not insist on the student paying for the medical expenses the bench said.