When the police take parenting to the streets, the results are unflattering more often than not. While sit-ups in full public view might sound like a fitting punishment for rash drivers, a woman traffic inspector, allegedly pushed a teenager to commit suicide in his attempt to reprimand her.
Balwinder Kaur, the traffic cop, was placed under suspension and a probe was ordered by the Punjab government.
Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal Friday asked Inspector General Jalandhar zone Gurpreet Deo to conduct a thorough inquiry into the circumstances leading to the suicide. The report of the inquiry has been sought within three days.
According to an Indian Express report, Shivali, a BA student in a Jalandhar college, jumped in front of a train fearing her photos will be published by local media photographers Kaur called to shame her and a friend, who had rammed their car into the back of another car parked near a police barricade.
Screen-grab from CNN-IBN report.
Reports suggest that Shivali, a student of Prem Chand Markanda SD College for Women in Jalandhar was with another teenage boy in a car, when it hit the other car parked near a police barricade close to her college.
Eyewitnesses told the reporter that the traffic police personnel Balwinder Kaur asked the couple to step out and do ‘uthak baithak’ or sit-ups as punishment. When they refused and an altercation ensued, he called a bunch of photographers who claimed to be from local media publications. Despite the girl’s protests, their photographs were taken and some photographers reportedly threatened to publish them, come what may.
A few hours later, Shivali jumped in front of a train in a railway station a few kilometres away. Kaur, when questioned, said she had intervened when she saw the two parties squabbling and denied calling the media.
The victim’s brother blamed the media for Shivali’s death but refused to say why they had not filed a complaint.
With inputs from IANS.
