Chennai: The Madras high court on Monday said once it has the compliance in respect of directions issued earlier, the issue whether the Special Investigation should carry out investigation into the mysterious death of Dalit youth Ilavarasan, whose body was found near a railway track, after he married a caste Hindu girl, on July 4, 2013 in Dharmapuri district, may be examined.
A Division Bench comprising the Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice R. Mahadevan disposed of a petition filed by T.Elango, father of the deceased Ilavarasan, which sought to transfer to SIT, investigation into the death of Ilavarasan.
The Bench had earlier while disposing of a batch of petitions from advocates S. Sengkodi and P. Pugalenthi and others relating to the atrocities committed on Dalits by caste Hindus leading to Ilavarasan death, made several observations and gave directions which included fixing responsibility for administrative lapses and file compliance report on September 9.
In its present order, the Bench said, "In respect of an incident, we had passed orders in a similar petition to look into all three aspects — with regard to civil compensation, criminal proceedings and departmental proceedings. The present case relates to the same incident and seeks transfer of investigation to SIT in view of the nature of the incident. We are of the view that once we have the compliance in respect of the directions issued in that matter, this issue may be examined whether SIT may be necessary to carry out investigation. Post along with similar petition which is posted for compliance on September 9".
According to petitioner, after his son married a caste Hindu, her father committed suicide. The caste Hindus unleashed violence on Dalits in three colonies in Dharmapuri district.
Nearly 400 houses were burnt and property belonging to Dalits were damaged. On July 4, 2013, his son was found dead near a railway track. After he moved the court, second post mortem was conducted. While so, on July 7, 2013, the Superintendent of Police informed the media that Ilavarasan’s death was suicide. This created serious doubts in fairness of police investigation.
