The Opposition on Friday tried to put the BJP in the dock over the alleged suicide of a Dalit IPS officer in Haryana.
Additional DGP Y. Puran Kumar reportedly shot himself dead in Chandigarh on Tuesday, leaving a note accusing DGP Shatrujeet Kapur and Rohtak superintendent of police Narendra Bijarniya of implicating him in a false case. He also alleged casteist victimisation since 2020 when he visited a temple in Ambala.
Kumar, who hailed from Andhra Pradesh, recounted an alleged delay in leave sanction that deprived him of the opportunity to meet his father before he died. Kumar claimed that he had complained to the chief secretary’s office as well.
Rohtak police sources denied that Kumar was booked in any case.
Tagging Prime Minister Narendra Modi on X, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge wrote in Hindi: “According to the NCRB, between 2013 and 2023, there has been a 46 per cent increase in crimes against Dalits. Crimes against Adivasis have increased by 91 per cent. Caste discrimination against an IPS officer in Haryana, the harassment of Hariom Valmiki (who was recently lynched in Uttar Pradesh), the attack on the CJI and the BJP mindset justifying it, and the atrocities against elderly Dalit woman Kamla Devi Raigar in Sawai Madhopur district of BJP-ruled Rajasthan — all these recent incidents are not just isolated events, but a dangerous manifestation of the RSS-BJP’s feudal mindset.”
AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal posted on X: “Dalit IPS officer from Haryana, Puran Kumar ji, faced so much harassment due to his caste that he took his own life. The guilty must be given the harshest punishment as soon as possible. When a shoe was thrown at the Chief Justice of the country, their trolls on social media are insulting Dalits, even abusing Baba Saheb Ambedkar. Where have these people brought India today?”
An FIR has been filed on the complaint of the deceased officer’s wife, Amneet Kumar, an IAS officer who was accompanying chief minister Nayab Saini on a tour of Japan when her husband died.
Amneet on Friday wrote to Chandigarh senior superintendent of police Kanwardeep Kaur about her dissatisfaction with the probe, as the DGP and the Rohtak SP were not named as accused in the FIR and appropriate sections of the SC/ST Act had not been applied.
The Chandigarh Police have constituted a special investigation team under inspector-general Pushpendra Kumar. The National Commission for Scheduled Castes has sent a notice seeking information on the case from the Chandigarh chief secretary and the DGP.
Indian National Lok Dal president Abhay Chautala termed the suicide “an extremely tragic and concerning event”. “This is not just a tragedy of one officer but a question mark on the entire system. When even high-ranking officers responsible for
the state’s security are not safe, what will happen to the safety of the common citizen?” he said.
In her letter to the police, Amneet wrote: “This is not a case of ordinary suicide but the direct result of systematic persecution of my husband, an officer from a Scheduled Caste community, by powerful and high-ranking officers who have used their positions to mentally torture him, ultimately driving him to such an extent that he was left with no other option but to take his life.”