14 October,2025 03:27 PM IST | Chandigarh | mid-day online correspondent
Rahul Gandhi meets the family members of Haryana IPS officer Y Puran Kumar, in Chandigarh. Pic/PTI
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said the death of Haryana police officer Y Puran Kumar is about the respect of all Dalits, urging Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi and Chief Minister (CM) Nayab Singh Saini to take immediate action and arrest the officials responsible for it, news agency PTI reported.
Addressing reporters after meeting the family of the senior officer, who was found with a wound at his Chandigarh residence last week, Gandhi said Kumar had faced systematic discrimination aimed at demoralising him and damaging his career.
His remarks came hours after the state government late on Monday night sent state Deputy General of Police (DGP) Shatrujeet Kapur on leave.
Earlier, the government had transferred Narendra Bijarniya, former Rohtak Superintendent of Police in connection with the IPS officer's death.
Both officers are among the eight senior officers named in a final note purportedly left by Puran, in which he accused them of "blatant caste-based discrimination, targeted mental harassment, public humiliation and atrocities".
Gandhi, who met Kumar's wife, senior Haryana bureaucrat Amneet P Kumar, their two daughters, and other family members in Chandigarh, pressed for the funeral to be allowed, PTI reported.
"My message as a LoP (leader of opposition) to the prime minister and the chief minister of Haryana is that the commitment you have given to these two daughters, you fulfil it and let their papa's funeral take place and stop this 'tamasha'," said Gandhi.
The family has not yet permitted an autopsy.
"... end the pressure on this family," Gandhi said, emphasising that there should be immediate action against the officials named in the note. You arrest them," he added.
When asked whether the family had given consent for a post-mortem, he said the family is sending a simple message.
"And which is right. They are saying that they need respect," said Gandhi.
He also criticised CM Saini for not fulfilling his commitment to hold a free and fair inquiry, PTI reported.
"A tragedy has taken place. He was a government officer and the chief minister gave personal commitment to the family that a free and fair inquiry will be held and action will be initiated in the matter," Gandhi said.
The former Congress chief, who spent about an hour with the family, said it was evident that the issue was not of just a few days.
"For many years, systematic discrimination had been happening to demoralise this officer, to damage his career, his reputation."
He added that the matter concerns not just one family but the respect of every Dalit in the country.
"The wrong message is going to crores of Dalits brothers and sisters in the country... that no matter how successful, intelligent or capable you may be, if you are a Dalit, you can be suppressed, crushed and thrown away. This is not acceptable to us," Gandhi said.
He further noted that efforts were made to end Kumar's career, prompting him to take his own life.
"Give him respect after his death. If you do not give respect, then it is not acceptable to us," he said.
Kumar, a 52-year-old 2001 batch officer known for his interventions on officers' rights, seniority issues, and other matters, had recently been posted as Inspector General, Police Training Centre (PTC), Sunaria, Rohtak.
His wife, Amneet P Kumar, is Commissioner and Secretary of the Department of Foreign Cooperation, Haryana government. She was in Japan as part of a delegation led by the chief minister when Kumar was found dead on October 7.
Gandhi also referred to a "false case being lodged", apparently alluding to a liquor contractor in Rohtak filing a bribery complaint against police constable Sushil Kumar. The contractor alleged that Sushil Kumar sought a bribe of Rs 2.5 lakh in Puran Kumar's name when he was posted there.
Sushil Kumar was recently arrested.
(With PTI inputs)
