Haryana govt should give justice to family of late IPS officer: Punjab CM

Chandigarh, Oct 11 (IANS) Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday said instead of safeguarding “blue-eyed” officers, the Haryana government should give justice to the family of late IPS officer Y. Puran Kumar by booking the key officers named by him in his suicide note.

Interacting with the media after meeting the family of Puran Kumar here, the Chief Minister appealed to the government of India and the Haryana government to stand with the bereaved family in this hour of crisis.

He said instead of protecting the interests of their “blue-eyed officers”, the Haryana government should secure justice for the aggrieved family.

Mann said he has flagged up this issue with the Governor of Punjab, who is the Chief Administrator of Chandigarh too, that the officers named by Puran Kumar should be booked immediately.

The Chief Minister said the entire family is in trauma after the death of the senior IPS officer, who hailed from a humble background. He said the wife of the deceased officer is the daughter of Punjab and a senior officer of the Haryana government, adding, “It is unfortunate that such cases of targeting the weaker sections are on the rise in the country”.

The Chief Minister said this is a conspiracy to target the senior officers and the common man of weaker and underprivileged sections sitting on high posts.

Citing the example of the Chief Justice of India, the Chief Minister said the troll army was making his memes daily and targeting him as a part of their nefarious agenda.

“It is unfortunate that discriminatory policies are being adopted against these sons of the soil. Even traditional policies are attacking him too because he hails from a common non-political family,” said the Chief Minister.

Meanwhile, the Punjab State Scheduled Castes Commission took suo motu notice of the suicide case and sought a report from the Chandigarh Director General of Police.

Commission Chairman Jasvir Singh Garhi said he has instructed the Director General of Police of Chandigarh to submit a report regarding this matter and the action taken so far on the suicide note and the complaint given by his wife, Amneet P. Kumar, a Haryana cadre senior bureaucrat, through an ADGP-level officer to the commission on October 13.

Meanwhile, Jai Narayan, a spokesperson for the 31-member committee for justice for Puran Kumar, told the media here that they formed this 31-member committee on Friday to sustain the movement all over Haryana with key members from various regions.

“The government has not conducted any meaningful investigation, and we demand that at the very least, those responsible be terminated; only then will the post-mortem be performed,” he said.

Inspector General of Police Puran Kumar, who allegedly shot himself dead at his Chandigarh residence on October 7 with his service revolver, left behind a "final note".

The victim's spouse, Amneet P. Kumar, in a letter to Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, has sought justice for her husband. The letter, marked urgent and confidential, was two days ago expressed anguish over what she described as a "grave injustice" and "complete administrative inaction" even after more than 48 hours of her husband's death.

In a nine-page "suicide note", Puran Kumar reportedly accused nine serving IPS officers of the Haryana Police, a retired IPS officer and three retired IAS officers of "caste-based discrimination".

The serving officers included DGP Shatrujeet Singh Kapur and Rohtak Superintendent of Police Narendra Bijarniya.

Meanwhile, the government has removed Bijarniya from his post and has been replaced by Surinder Singh Bhoria as the Superintendent of Police of Rohtak. No posting has been given to Bijarniya as of now.

Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi wrote a letter to the wife of late Haryana IPS officer, saying the incident "reveals that even the highest-level officers can be denied social justice on account of discriminatory attitude".

"The passing away of Mr Y Puran Kumar reveals that even the highest-level officers can be denied social justice on account of the discriminatory attitude and the preconceived notions of the powers that be. Crores of Indians stand with you in your fight for justice," she wrote.

--IANS

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