Rahul Gandhi met the IPS officer's family in Chandigarh, following which he sought action in the case.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday met the family of IPS officer Y Puran Kumar, days after the official allegedly shot himself at his Haryana residence. The case had sparked huge outrage, spotlighting caste bias in bureaucracy and the police.
Gandhi met the IPS officer's family in Chandigarh, following which he sought action in the case, urging Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to "act now".
He said the incident sent a "wrong message to Dalits that no matter how successful you are, if you are Dalit, you can be crushed". He also said that the incident was not just about the respect of the IPS officer's family, but of all Dalits.
He alleged that Saini didn't fulfill his commitment of a free and fair inquiry, and that there was a lot of pressure on the late IPS officer's daughters.
"My message as LoP to PM Modi and the Haryana Chief Minister is fulfil commitment to daughters of IPS Puran Kumar, let his funeral take place," he was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
Y Puran Kumar died on October 7 after allegedly shooting himself. An eight-page note he left behind allegedly named several senior officials, including Haryana DGP Shatrujeet Kapur and Rohtak SP Narendra Bijarniya, and accused them of “blatant caste-based discrimination, targeted mental harassment, public humiliation and atrocities”, his wife Amneet Puran Kumar said in a complaint.
Amneet, who is an IAS officer, sought an FIR against Kapur and Bijarniya, and to include the correct provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Y Puran Kumar's postmortem is also on hold currently, as the family has refused to give consent for it.
