Shimla Dalit boy's suicide: Accused woman sent to three-day police custody

Following the rejection of her surrender application, the police late on Wednesday night arrested the woman, who has been accused of thrashing and abetting a 12-year-old Dalit boy to commit suicide at Limbra village in Chirgaon. She was today produced in court, which sent her to three-day police custody.

DSP, Rohru, Pranav Chauhan said that a case under Section 107 (abetment of suicide of child), 127 (wrongful confinement) and 115 (voluntarily causing hurt) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, and sections of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, has been registered against the accused and further investigation is going on.

On September 16, a boy belonging to the Dalit community allegedly committed suicide after consuming poisonous substance after he was allegedly thrashed and locked in a cowshed by the accused woman for touching her house. The boy died at the IGMC during the treatment on September 17 following which the parents approached the police demanding the accused woman be arrested. The woman moved the court seeking anticipatory bail. Her plea was rejected by the court.

The incident triggered outrage across the state as the people condemned the caste-based discrimination while many also claimed that the deceased boy had a habit of stealing. He had been caught stealing many times. The woman in her defence had said that she had caught the boy while he was stealing something from her shop, a statement that has been denied by the family of the deceased.

Interestingly, the Commission for Scheduled Caste had expressed dissatisfaction with the investigation being carried out by the police and had issued orders to suspend ASI Manjeet, who was the Investigating Officer of the case. The Commission has also sought an explanation from the DSP.

Kuldeep Kumar Dhiman, chairman of the commission, has accused the police of not taking the case seriously. He stated that the case was lodged on September 20, but sections under the POA act were not applied, which was a serious lapse on the part of the police, leading to delay in delivering justice.

He said that the victim’s family, in their complaint, had mentioned that their child was called untouchable by the accused woman who had also asked the family to provide a goat to purify her house. “Despite this, a case under SC/ST Act was not registered by the police at that time and were only applied later,” he said.

He said that the commission had sought a report from the Rohru DSP within three days, but it was not submitted within the stipulated time. It was only received by the Commission on October 14.