Suicide or custodial death? Despite CM Khattar’s clean chit on Dalit teen's death, doubts linger

Is the death of the Dalit teenager in Gohana a case of suicide, or is it a murder by the police? The death of the 15-years-old in Gohana in Sonepat district under mysterious circumstances barely two days after the shocking burning of two kids in Sunped village has brought parts of Haryana on the boil again.

The family of the Dalit boy, who lived in Devipura, alleges that he died in police custody. His body, with wounds all over, was recovered from near a deserted house in Shiv colony on Thursday. According to relatives of the boy, on October 21, Lal Singh of Gohana had filed a complaint of theft of four pigeons, Rs 5000 and two mobile phones, at the police post on Jind road, Gohana. As the police suspected the Dalit boy of the crime, he was called to the police station for questioning where the police took him in custody.

Family members alleged that the police demanded Rs 5000 for his release. Later however, the police claimed he had escaped custody. But next morning his body, hanging from a rope, was found in the deserted house.

While speaking to the media on Friday in Chandigarh, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar claimed it was a case of suicide and that the boy had not died in police custody.

“No interrogation was going on. The family of the boy came to the police station with a complaint and went back home after the matter was resolved. There was no summoning of the Dalit boy. He went to the police station on his own. Later the matter was resolved and everybody went back home. The suicide took place in the night later, according to the unofficial information,’’ said Khattar. He said the suicide was committed in the night and the official report in the case was yet to arrive.

Khattar said the post mortem report will throw light on why the suicide took place and what were the reasons. “Whosoever is responsible will not be spared and strict action will be taken,” he said. He said there was no problem of law and order in Haryana and peace was being maintained.

“It is wrong to give a colour of caste to such events,’’ he said.

Meanwhile, tension prevails in the Gohana region with people blocking the Panipat-Rohtak railway track demanding the arrest of two policemen responsible for the boy’s death. The state government has posted a huge number of policemen. The Haryana police has lodged an FIR against two sub-inspectors in the case.

Sonepat SP Abhishek Garg said that members of the ‘gadia lohar’ (ironsmiths) community had two days ago approached the Sonepat Police charging the boy with the theft of a pigeon and other items, demanding an investigation.

Speaking to Firstpost, PL Punia, Chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC), said they have taken serious note of the Gohana incident and sent a notice to the Haryana government. “The NCSC’s Deputy Chairman, Ishwar Singh, is on the spot, closely monitoring the situation,’’ said Punia.

Rann Singh Mann, Haryana Congress Spokesman told Firstpost, said the law and order situation was deteriorating because the government had totally lost control over officers. “Senior police officers are fighting among themselves. There is groupism among police officers. The government behaves as the judge and gives clean chits to people even before the inquiry. Let the government conduct an investigation into such cases before pronouncing judgments and compensations or else you may have to cut a sorry figure like in the case of two girls who alleged molestation and later were found out to be wrong,” said Mann.

Karamvir Singh, social activist and president of the Confederation of SC/ST/BC Organisations, Haryana, told Fistpost that it was yet to be ascertained whether the number of atrocities had increased in the last one year during BJP rule in Haryana, but many cases had come to light during the period. Quoting National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) figures, he said in 2014, 21 Dalits had been killed and this year too there were a number of deaths.

Karamvir Singh blamed the Haryana police and the upper caste people for their anti-Dalit attitude. “The police are most apathetic to the Dalits. Their complaints are often not registered. If at all the FIR is filed, the police tries to put the Dalits in a soup while saving people from other castes. I appealed to the Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar to implement the `Gochni’ policy or a mix of people from different castes, including Dalits on higher posts in police and administration to ensure justice to the Scheduled Caste people,” he said.