Dharmapuri, Tamil Nadu:
A second post-mortem report has been demanded by the family of Ilavarasan, whose inter-caste marriage had led to riots in his village in Tamil Nadu. The first report had revealed the 21-year-old died of a head injury. He was found dead near a railway track on Thursday near his village in western Tamil Nadu.
While his family has alleged murder, police sources have said that Ilavarasan's death is a case of suicide.
The Madras High Court on Friday had asked for the body to be preserved in case the family wants to seek a second report. A video of the autopsy was shared with them.
Ilavarasan, a Dalit, married Divya Nagaraj, a girl from the Vanniyars, an upper-caste Hindu community, in August. A day after Ilavarasan was found dead, the Madras High Court ordered the government to give security to Divya.
Their love story was stalked from the beginning by political agendas.
Weeks after they eloped, Divya's father committed suicide. After his death, nearly 200 huts owned by Dalits in and around Ilavasaran's village of Dharmapuri were set on fire. Parties with a strong Dalit votebank blamed Divya's community for the riots, and said the violence had been backed by the PMK, headed by S Ramadoss and openly committed to preventing inter-caste marriages.
Seven months after her father's suicide, Divya returned to her parental home to live with her mother, who had filed a case in the Madras High Court asking for Divya to be released from "unlawful detention". Divya returned while her mother's petition was still pending. On Wednesday, Divya told the Madras High Court she would not return to Ilavasaran.
Ilavasaran's mother holds the PMK responsible for her son's death; the party has denied any links to the tragedy. "They killed my son. My son didn't kill himself," she said.