Tamil Nadu Dalit man Ilavarasan to be cremated today; prohibitory orders clamped

Dharmapuri: Hundreds of people have defied prohibitory orders to join the funeral procession of Ilavarasan, a Dalit man, whose mysterious death following a failed inter-caste marriage sparked a major controversy in Tamil Nadu. The 21-year-old was found dead on July 4 near a railway track in Dharmapuri district in the western part of the state.

Ilavarasan will be buried at a private vacant site in his native village of Nathan that has been tense following his death. The young man's parents have alleged that he was murdered and have pointed fingers at the upper caste and dominant Vanniyar community to which his wife belongs. The district administration had denied permission to Dalit leaders to visit the area ahead of the funeral.

A second post-mortem was conducted on Ilavarasan yesterday by a team doctors from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences or AIIMS. The report will be submitted to the Madras High Court, which had ordered the second autopsy after medical experts, who examined the Dalit man's body, gave conflicting opinions on whether there was need for further clinical or surgical examination.

"Whatever we have perceived, we will put in a sealed cover and submit to the court," said Dr Sudhir Kumar Gupta, one of the doctors of the team which performed the autopsy.

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The first autopsy report had revealed that Ilavarasan died of a head injury. But his parents were not convinced and had demanded for a second autopsy to be performed in the presence of their doctor.

Ilavarasan was found dead just a day after his wife, Divya Nagaraj, refused to return to him. The duo had eloped in August last year. Weeks after that, Divya's father committed suicide which triggered riots against Dalits in and around their village. Around 250 Dalit homes were allegedly torched by Vanniyars, who are backed by the PMK party in Tamil Nadu.

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