Dalit youth's death: HC orders another autopsy

The Hyderabad High Court today ordered fresh autopsy of a Dalit youth who was found dead under mysterious circumstances in Peddapalli district of Telangana last month.

A division bench of acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice Shameem Akhtar ordered another autopsy of the body of Manthani Madhukar while hearing a petition filed by his mother, M Lakshmi.

Lakshmi alleged in the petition that her son was murdered because he had fallen in love with an upper caste girl, but the police, acting at the behest of a local politician, were not probing the case properly.

The judges directed the district police to video-record the fresh autopsy by forensic experts from Kakatiya Medical College in Warangal under the supervision of a Chief Judicial Magistrate.
 

Report of the autopsy should be submitted in a sealed cover at the hearing next week, the court said.

Madhukar (26) was found dead on the bank of a canal in Khanapur village in Peddapalli district on March 14. The first autopsy report said it was a suicide.

But his family alleged it was a murder.

Several Dalit organisations had staged protests over the alleged murder.