Dalit youth E Ilavarasan, a victim of upper caste hegemony who was found dead near a railway track 10 days ago after his love marriage with Vanniyar girl N Divya failed, was laid to rest on Sunday evening amidst tight police security and restrictions at his native Natham Colony in Dharmapuri district.
His body was preserved since July 4 at the Government Dharmapuri Medical College Hospital where two teams of doctors, including one from the AIIMS, had performed autopsies on his body on the directions of the Madras High Court.
Officially it is still unclear if he committed suicide or was murdered, although police have claimed to have recovered a suicide note written by him. Ilavarasan’s marriage with Divya in October last year and the subsequent suicide of her father had led not only to widespread violence against Dalits in Dharmapuri in November 2012 but also rallying of intermediate castes against love marriages with Dalit youth, primarily at the initiative of the PMK.