Chennai, July 12 (IANS) The Madras High Court Friday ordered a second autopsy on the body of Dalit youth E. Ilavarasan, who was found dead near a railway track after a failed inter-caste love marriage.
The court ordered that the second autopsy would be done by three doctors from New Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences after studying the reports by two forensic experts who had visited Dharmapuri Thursday.
Ilavarasan was found dead near a railway track in Dharmapuri district, around 380 km from here, July 4.
There was confusion as to the cause of death – whether it is a suicide or a murder – and the court had asked two forensic experts to submit their report. The two examined Ilavarasan’s body at Dharmapuri and also the site where his body was found and submitted their report to the court, saying the cause of death was a head injury.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa July 8 announced that an inquiry commission had been set up to probe the cause of the death of 19-year-old Ilavarasan whose marriage last August to Divya, a Vanniayar (Kshatriya) resulted in caste violence in three villages of the district.
She said the commission was constituted as Ilavarasan’s father disputed police claims that it was a case of suicide. There were also divergent reasons offered for the death from the media, social activists and others.
Divya’s father committed suicide after bearing the brunt of taunts from fellow-residents of Sellamkottai village.
Appearing before a division bench of the Madras High Court in a case, Divya told the court that her mother was lonely and she would live with her. She told reporters that her relationship with Ilavarasan was over.
The next day, Ilavarasan was found dead near the railway tracks. Police suspected it was a case of suicide.
