Dalit youth found dead, honor killing suspected

The death of a 21-year old Dalit man under suspicious circumstances triggered protests by Dalit groups who allege it to be a case of honour killing since he was in 'love' with a Hindu girl, even as the Madras High Court today ordered an autopsy by a three-member specialist team.
V Gokulraj, who graduated in engineering from a college in neighbouring Namakkal last year, was found dead on a railway track near Pallipalayam in Namakkal District on Wednesday.
A native of Salem, he was found dead with severe injuries over his body including the upper torso region, police said adding Railway police have registered a case under CrpC section 174 (suspicious death).

Suspecting foul play based on caste lines as the deceased was suspected to have been in relationship with a girl from an upper caste, Dalit outfits today staged demonstrations seeking justice and arrest of the culprits.
The girl with whom he was seen last in a temple in Tiruchengode town before he was found dead, is a final year engineering student from the college where the victim had studied.
Police personnel have been deployed in adequate numbers in sensitive locations across Namakkal, Salem and Erode, where protests were held, as a precautionary measure, police said.

Meanwhile, the high court today constituted a team of doctors including Dr P Sampath Kumar of Sri Ramachandra Medical College, to conduct postmortem on the body of Gokul Raj.

On a petition filed by a rights activist, the Court today directed the Dean, Mohan Kumaramangalam Government Hospital, Salem, to constitute the team of the three doctors.
According to the petitioner, the girl had allegedly told Police that she and Gokul Raj were in love. She had also told them that the deceased was kidnapped by henchmen of a caste-based organisation.