Dalit youth death probe panel yet to submit report, HC told

The commission, functioning since July 8, 2013, has spent Rs 2.06 crore till now. Filing the details in response to a query raised by Justice SM Subramaniam about the number of enquiry commissions that are functioning including the number of years, the State government said the Singarvelu commission has completed its enquiry and the report is under compilation for submission by the last week of this month.

The judicial enquiry was instituted in view of doubts and different opinions expressed by Ilavarasan’s father, social activists and political leaders about the circumstances leading to the death of the youth.

Ilavarasan was found dead near a railway track in Dharmapuri on July 4, 2013, a day after his wife Divya, a caste Hindu, had said she would never go back to him.

Ilavarasan married Divya on October 14, 2012, after which her father committed suicide the next month. Her marriage and her father’s suicide triggered violence in the three villages of Natham, Kondamapatty and Annanagar on November 7, 2012, when about 296 huts belonging to Dalits were torched allegedly by the caste Hindus.

The other enquiry panel is that of Justice S Rajeswaran Commission, which was formed to look into the causes and circumstances leading to the law and order disturbances in the pro-jallikattu agitation witnessed in Chennai and other parts of the State.

While the commission was formed on January 31, 2017, the report revealed that the enquiry is still in progress and so far, Rs 1.47 crore has been spent.

The other two commissions are led by Justice A Arumugasamy, who is enquiring into the demise of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on December 05, 2016, and Justice Aruna Jagadeesan, who is probing into the causes and circumstances leading to the police firing in Thoothukudi on May 22, 2018, following an massive public agitation seeking permanent closure of the Sterlite copper factory.

Noting that the enquiry by both the commissions is in progress, the State said the former has spent Rs 32.75 lakh, while the latter has spent Rs 27.75 lakh.

The judge had sought details about the commission while dealing with a plea moved by former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi in 2015 challenging the proceedings of the Justice R Reghupathy commission of enquiry into the alleged irregularities in the construction of a multi-crore building currently housing the Government multi super speciality hospital on Anna Salai. The case is poised to come up for hearing on Thursday.