After 12 days of tension following the death of Dalit youth E. Ilavarasan, normality returned to Dharmapuri district on Monday.
Ilavarasan was found dead along the railway track behind Government Arts College here on July 4, after his wife N. Divya, who belongs to the Vanniyar community, said she would not go back with him and that she would stay with her mother.
Divya’s marriage to Ilavarasan had led to her father committing suicide on November 7, last year. This was immediately followed by a mob ransacking and setting fire to 268 houses in three Dalit colonies, including Natham Colony, where Ilavarasan and his parents lived. Now, police have been posted in strength in this colony and also Sellankottai, Divya’s village. “Vigil continues in these areas and other sensitive pockets in the form of check-posts, pickets and mobile patrolling,” Inspector-General of Police (West Zone) S. Davidson told The Hindu in Coimbatore. In addition to the Dharmapuri police, two units from some neighbouring districts in Salem region were deployed. The prohibitory order that was promulgated soon after the death of Ilavarasan, continued to be in force to enable total return of normality.
Panel invites affidavits
Meanwhile, the Justice S.R. Singaravelu Commission of Inquiry constituted by the State government to probe the death of Ilavarasan has invited affidavits from the public who could have some information about the death of the youth.
Those who submitted the affidavits would be asked to appear in person before the Commission.
