Dalit Mahapanchayat Gives 48-Hour Ultimatum To Haryana Govt Over IPS Officer’s Suicide Case

Chandigarh: Even as the Dalit Mahapanchayat on Sunday gave an ultimatum to the Haryana government to remove DGP Shatrujeet Kapur and take action in the senior IPS officer Y Puran Kumar’s suicide case within next 48 hours, else face nation-wide protests, the family refused to give consent for an autopsy of Kumar’s body till these demands are met.

Prof Jai Narain, who is chairman of the 31-member coordination committee of a number of Dalit organisations which held the Mahapanchayat here Sunday, told newspersons that they have given the ultimatum to remove Kapur and take action against all the responsible officers within 48 hours, else the Dalit organisations would be holding protests across the country. Some other leaders even threaten to quit jobs and strike work.

The 2001-batch IPS officer, Kumar, 52, who was posted as IGP, police training centre, Rohtak on September 25 last, died by suicide at his residence in Chandigarh, on October 7, leaving the state police force in shock. He accused nine senior serving IPS officers, including the DGP Shatrujeet Kapur, SP Rohtak Narendra Bijarniya, a retired IPS officer and three retired IAS officers, of ``caste-based discrimination, public humiliation, targeted mental harassment and atrocities’’ for suicide.

Bijarniya was shifted on Saturday and his posting orders have yet not been issued, though there has not been any information about a decision about the DGP Shatrujeet Kapur in the case. They - DGP Kapur and SP Bijariniya - have been named as the key accused in the complaint lodged by Kumar's wife Amneet P Kumar, an IAS officer in Haryana.

Even though the family members initially pressed for the immediate arrest of the DGP Kapur and Bijarniya, they agreed for their removal after Chandigarh police added some sections under SC/ST Act in FIR in the case on the family's demand.

Meanwhile, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann visited Kumar’s family to pay homage on Saturday, members of Dalit communities held protests in parts of Haryana and the workers of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Punjab, took out candlelight marches in several parts of Chandigarh and cities of Punjab including Amritsar, Jalandhar and Patiala.

PUNJAB CONG BACKS DEMANDS

Meanwhile, the Punjab Congress also demanded immediate removal of the Haryana DGP for being named in the suicide note by the IPS officer.

Addressing newspersons here, former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, party state president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring and other leaders held that ADGP Kumar was the victim of the deliberate policy of the BJP which has been targeting the Dalits, the backwards, the farmers and the minorities.