Chandigarh: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi who met the bereaved family of late IPS officer Y Puran Kumar here on Tuesday, sought arrest of the accused in Kumar’s suicide case and said that ``the incident sent a wrong message to Dalits that no matter how successful you are, if you are Dalits, you can be crushed’’.
Kumar, 52, had shot himself dead at his residence in Chandigarh, on October 7. He accused nine senior serving IPS officers, including the DGP Kapur, SP Bijarniya, a retired IPS officer and three retired IAS officers, of ``caste-based discrimination, public humiliation, targeted mental harassment and atrocities’’ for the suicide.
Rahul, who addressed the newspersons after meeting the bereaved family, slammed Saini government of dilly-dallying action in the case and asked the state government to stop orchestrating a ``tamasha’’ as the same is exerting pressure on the family, especially the two daughters.
Appealing to Modi to intervene and ensure swift action, Rahul also pointedly demanded arrest of the accused officers and asked the Saini government not to insult the deceased IPS officer.
Asking Saini to fulfil his commitment given to the deceased officer’s family and the two daughters of swift action so that the funeral took place, he said that Kumar’s death was not about the respect of one family but all Dalits.
Rahul’s visit came amid raging criticism of Saini government by the opposition in the case. While all the senior state Congress leaders including Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Rao Narendra Singh, INLD’s Abhay Chautala have visited the bereaved family, other leaders who visit Kumar’s family included Telangana deputy CM Mally Bhatti Vikramarka and Union ministers Ramdas Athwale and Chirag Paswan.
