• Outfits took to the streets of Gudibande
• Protesters demand CoD probe, re-postmortem
Hundreds of Dalits under the banner of Dalit Sangahrsha Samiti and Dalit Damanitara Swabhimana Horata Samiti staged a protest in front of the Tahsildar’s office at Gudibande in Chickballapur district on Monday seeking a CoD probe into the death of a Dalit boy, Murali.
The leaders of the outfits also demanded that a re-postmortem of the body of Murali should be conducted to ascertain the real cause of the death. Gayatri, the boy’s elder sister, who is pursuing postgraduation studies in a college in Bengaluru, joined the protest, seeking justice.
Murali was found dead hanging from a tree on January 20 at Chokkanahalli in Gudibande taluk. While the police registered a case of suicide, the organisations alleged it was a murder.
15-year-old Murali was studying in Standard 9 and was friendly with a Standard 8 girl from an ‘upper’ caste. This reportedly enraged the girl’s brother, who is also a student of the same school. Along with his friends, the girl’s brother allegedly took Murali away and beat him to death and hanged the body from a tree to make it appear like a suicide, the Dalit outfits said.
“The police are trying to hush up the case which was clearly a murder and we will continue the agitation till justice is done”, DSS State convener N. Venkatesh told The Hindu . “The case should be handed over to the CoD and the body be exhumed for a re-postmortem”, he added.
Senior DSS activist and poet-singer Gollahalli Shivaprasad, Janashakthi leader Gowri, and Aam Aadmi Party leader Mohan Dasari participated in the protest.
