IPS officer’s suicide in Haryana shocking: Mayawati

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Saturday said the alleged suicide of a senior IPS officer in Haryana due to caste-based harassment has shocked the country.

Dalits and Bahujan communities are particularly agitated over the development, she said.

• Also read: Rohtak SP replaced; development in line with family's demands
•  'Why the rush over post-mortem': IPS officer's wife blasts Chandigarh Police for 'undignified' handling of body
• Sonia Gandhi writes to late IPS officer’s wife

In a post in Hindi on X, Mayawati said, “This extremely tragic and serious incident is particularly shameful for a civilised government and proves that despite numerous claims, the scourge of casteism persists, especially in governance and administration, and that governments are failing to curb it.

“However, this is more a matter of government intentions and policies. This unfortunate incident deserves a timely, independent and impartial probe, and the perpetrators should be severely punished so that such painful incidents, which shame a civilised society, do not occur again.”

Y Puran Kumar, 52, a 2001-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, allegedly shot himself dead at his Chandigarh residence on Tuesday. A “final note” left behind by him has alleged caste-based discrimination. His wife, an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer and a bureaucrat in the Haryana government, has also raised certain questions regarding her husband’s death.

Mayawati said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Haryana should treat the incident with utmost sensitivity and seriousness, and must not attempt to cover it up.

“The investigation should not be a mere formality as allegations have already begun to surface. It would be better if the Honourable Supreme Court and the Centre also take proper cognisance of this incident,” she said.

Those who link reservations for the Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) to economic status and talk about the creamy layer should learn from such incidents, because even after attaining wealth and position, the ugly side of casteism does not spare the members of these communities and caste-based exploitation, oppression and persecution continue at every level, “the latest example of which is the current incident in Haryana”, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said.