Explained | What is the Gokulraj murder case all about?

The Madras High Court, on June 2, 2023, upheld the conviction of 10 men including S. Yuvaraj of Theeran Chinnamalai Gounder Peravai and the life sentence (till death without any remission) of eight of them for beheading a Dalit engineering graduate V. Gokulraj in June 2015, on the mere suspicion that he was in love with a caste Hindu girl, Swathi

The story so far: The Madras High Court, on June 2, 2023, upheld the conviction of 10 men including S. Yuvaraj of Theeran Chinnamalai Gounder Peravai and the life sentence (till death without any remission) of eight of them for beheading a Dalit engineering graduate V. Gokulraj in June 2015, on the mere suspicion that he was in love with a caste Hindu girl.

The 21-year-old Dalit youth V. Gokulraj was a resident of Saastha Nagar in Omalur taluk of Salem district in Tamil Nadu. He had completed Electronics and Communication Engineering course in May 2015 at a private engineering college in Tiruchengode in Namakkal district.

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Almost a month after his graduation, on June 23, 2015, Gokulraj was last seen alive with his classmate and friend Swathi (20) of Paramathi Velur in Namakkal district, atop the hillock of Sri Arthanareeswarar Temple at Tiruchengode when a gang abducted him.

A day later, Gokulraj’s body was found with his head severed on the railway track at South Thottipalayam, near Pallipalayam in Namakkal district, with a suicide note in his pocket.

Based on the complaint lodged by his mother V. Chitra, Tiruchengode Town police initially filed a case of abduction under section 363 of the Indian Penal Code, with Swathi as witness and the Erode Railway Police then registered a case under Section 174 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPc).

Later, the Tiruchengode police altered the case of suspicious death of Gokulraj, into a case of murder. After weeks, the Tiruchengode town police altered the sections to 302 (murder), 366 (abduction) and under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.