The Madras High Court today directed authorities to keep the body of a 45-year-old Dalit man, who was found dead under mysterious circumstances in Erode district, in the 'cold storage' of Coimbatore Government Hospital till the second post-mortem was conducted.
The court also restrained officials in Erode from harassing the man's son, who is the petitioner, to accept the mortal remains.
Justice T Mathivanan, before whom the petition by C Balasubramanian came up, in his order said, "Till the conduct of second post-mortem on the body of the father of petitioner, Chinnasamy, district authorities shall not threaten the petitioner to take the body."
When Additional Government Pleader P Sanjay Gandhi submitted that he has to get instructions from the government and sought listing the matter on March 28, the judge said, "Authorities are directed to keep the body in cold storage at the Government Hospital, Coimbatore till then."
The petitioner sought a second post-mortem examination on the body.
The matter relates to the altercation that took place between two groups of people on March 19. Members of one group had picked up a quarrel with a group of Dalits who were allegedly consuming liquor near a well in Dasampudur village, where a local temple festival was held.
An upper caste person had reportedly "abused" a 19-year- old Dalit boy by his caste name following which Chinnasamy, leader of a Dalit outfit, intervened and objected.
The following day, Chinnasamy's body was found floating in a well in the village, where he was working as a labourer.
The petitioner submitted there was no chance of his father committing suicide and suspected that he was done to death by somebody.
He also prayed the court for a direction to authorities to conduct the post-mortem in the presence of a doctor as per the guidelines of National Human Rights Commission and till the disposal of the writ petition.
The family members and activists from some Dalit outfits had on March 21 staged a protest in the district alleging "foul play" in the death and demanded a thorough probe.
Relatives had refused to accept the body demanding proper investigation into the death and arrest of persons responsible for it.
