'Horrifying revelations' in Haryana IPS officer's final note: Punjab finance minister

Chandigarh, Oct 10 (PTI) Punjab Finance Minister and senior AAP leader Harpal Singh Cheema on Friday said there were "horrifying revelations" in the 'final note' left by Haryana IPS officer Y Puran Kumar who allegedly committed suicide earlier this week.

He said it clearly details "years of blatant caste-based discrimination, targeted mental harassment and public humiliation" he faced at the hands of some senior officers.

"The gravity of the situation under the BJP rule is beyond appalling. We have seen repeated instances of rising crimes against Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) in BJP-ruled states such as Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, as documented in the national crime records," Cheema alleged in a statement.

"But what is truly shocking is that the BJP's anti-Dalit sentiment does not spare even the highest echelons of public service. The tragic case of the late IPS officer, who meticulously documented years of caste-based harassment, humiliation, and conspiracy by his seniors in the Haryana Police and administration, a BJP-governed state, is a damning indictment of their moral and administrative failure," Cheema said.

The fact that a senior serving IPS officer was driven to death, leaving behind an eight-page document "that reads as a litany of caste-based persecution, denial of entitlements, malicious complaints, and public humiliation in a BJP-ruled state is a national shame," the minister asserted.

He asked if officers at the Inspector General rank are not safe and are subjected to "such inhuman treatment, what hope do the common Dalit citizens in these states have?" "The BJP's silence on this entire episode, particularly the failure of Haryana government to take swift and transparent action against the officers named in the IPS officer's dying declaration, exposes their hypocrisy on social justice," he said.

Cheema demanded immediate suspension and arrest of all officers named in Puran Kumar's final note. They should be booked under relevant sections of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and abetment of suicide, and a time-bound, independent and high-level judicial inquiry should be carried out into all the allegations raised in the note, he said.

The minister said that the BJP-led Union government must break its silence and clearly state its policy on protecting SC/ST citizens from caste-based atrocities.

"The Aam Aadmi Party stands unequivocally with the SC/ST communities. We will not allow the BJP's venomous politics of caste discrimination to destroy the constitutional ethos of this nation. Justice must be delivered in this case, and accountability must be fixed at the highest levels," he said.

Y Puran Kumar, a 52-year-old IPS officer, allegedly shot himself dead at his residence in Sector 11, Chandigarh, on Tuesday.

An eight-page typed and signed 'final note' left behind him named some senior officers of Haryana and detailed the "mental harassment" and humiliation he faced over the last few years, according to sources.

Known for his interventions in matters related to the rights of officers and seniority, Puran Kumar was recently posted as the Inspector General of the Police Training Centre in Rohtak's Sunaria.

Kumar's final note was titled 'Continued blatant caste-based discrimination, targeted mental harassment, public humiliation and atrocities by concerned senior officers of Haryana since August 2020 which is now unbearable'.

It mentions a "mala fide generation of mischievous anonymous and pseudo-anonymous" complaints against him, floated and processed by some officers for months together to publicly humiliate and embarrass him and thereby damage his reputation, they said.

Kumar, who comes from the Scheduled Caste community, named a few officers who allegedly blatantly misused their official positions and authority, and compelled him to kill himself, according to sources. PTI SUN RUK RUK