Amid heavy police bandobust and large turnover of grieving villagers, dalit youth Ilavarasan was laid to rest in a small piece of land owned by his family at his native Natham village, seven km from Dharmapuri, on Sunday.
His upper caste wife Divya refused to attend the last rites, despite her father-in-law pleading through the media that she should go for the sake of peace for his soul, and the offer of security by the district administration. Relatives and friends have already announced plans to erect a memorial for the 20-year-old handsome dalit whose romance and marriage soured under caste pressures.
Ilavarasan’s body was found near the railway track behind the Dharmapuri arts college on July 4. His family and dalit organisations, including VCK, alleged murder and sought a second autopsy. They were not satisfied with the verdict of the post-mortem on July 5 that he had died due to a deep head injury caused by a heavy object. The court accepted their plea and ordered a second autopsy by a team of three doctors from the AIIMS, New Delhi. The team completed the procedure on Saturday and its report in a sealed cover is on its way to the court.
But meanwhile, reports from Chennai said the forensic experts have concluded that the two suicides notes found in dead Ilavarasan’s trouser pocket — one addressed to his parents seeking their pardon and the other to wife Divya reiterating his love for her and telling her she must face life boldly — were indeed written by him. Each note had four pages.
The romance between the dalit boy and Vanniyar girl and their marriage last October caused huge social upheaval in the backward district.
In the caste riots the following month, several dalit houses were torched in Natham and neighbouring colonies. Divya’s father Nagarajan, who worked as an office assistant in an agricultural cooperative society, hanged himself in his house at Sellankottai on November 7.
Divya’s mother Thenmozhi filed a habeas corpus petition in the high court asking that the girl be restored to her.
The court proceedings combined with caste pressures ultimately led Divya to declare she would live with her mother and never return to Ilavarasan. The broken-hearted dalit died the following day.