Haryana IPS Officer's Suicide Note Exposes Alleged Caste Discrimination in Police Force

IAS officer Amneet Kumar has referred to her husband's suicide note as a "document of broken spirit" following the tragic incident in Chandigarh.

Haryana's Inspector General of Police Y Puran Kumar, an IPS officer, tragically ended his life at his Chandigarh residence on Tuesday, leaving behind an eight-page suicide note with serious allegations against 10 senior and retired police officials.

In his final message, Kumar accused these officers of "blatant caste-based discrimination, targeted mental harassment, public humiliation and atrocities." Among those named were Haryana's Director General of Police Shatrujeet Singh Kapur and Rohtak police chief Narendra Bijarnia.

Kumar's wife, IAS officer Amneet P Kumar, has subsequently filed a police complaint against these senior officers, charging them with abetment to suicide.

"This is not an ordinary suicide but a direct result of systematic persecution of my husband – an officer from SC community by powerful and high-ranking officers who have used their positions to mentally torture him, ultimately driving him to such an extent that he was left with no other option but to take his life," she stated in her complaint.

The incident occurred around 1:30 pm on Tuesday when Kumar's daughter discovered him dead in their home's basement. The 2001-batch officer apparently used his service revolver to end his life, leaving behind the extensive note containing allegations against top police and administrative officials.

At the time of the incident, Amneet Kumar, currently serving as commissioner and secretary of the Haryana government's Department of Foreign Cooperation, was in Japan accompanying a delegation led by Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Saini.

In his note, Kumar claimed that the discrimination began in 2020 after he visited a temple in an Ambala police station. He wrote, "The caste-based discrimination, mental harassment, public humiliation and atrocities started by Sh Manoj Yadava, the then DGP Haryana, continues against me till date by other officers of Haryana cadre."

He further alleged that Rajeev Arora, a retired IAS officer who was then Additional Chief Secretary Home, denied him earned leave, preventing him from seeing his father before his death. "This causes me continued immense pain and mental harassment and is an irreparable loss till date," Kumar wrote, adding that his written complaints to authorities, including the Chief Secretary, went unaddressed.

Kumar's note accused Haryana DGP Shatrujeet Kapur and IPS officers Amitabh Dhillon and Sanjay Kumar of continuing the alleged discrimination and harassment, specifically regarding the allocation of an official vehicle and accommodation.

The deceased officer also claimed that "mischievous anonymous and pseudo anonymous complaints" were generated against him, writing, "This is the extent of targeted vindictive and revengeful mental harassment, humiliation and atrocities being committed against Scheduled Caste officers like me... thereby compelling me to take this extreme decision today."

Kumar mentioned being informed that DGP Kapur had ordered the withdrawal of a police officer temporarily attached to him and that he had been warned "to be careful and cautious" as DGP Kapur and other IPS officers were allegedly "totally geared up to harm me and my family."

In his note, Kumar directly attributed his decision to the actions of the officers named: "Even during the interim period I thought over carefully and was convinced that I cannot bear this continued and concerted conspiracy of concerned to continue with caste-based discrimination, public humiliation, targeted mental harassment and atrocities any longer and hence this final decision to end it all."

He explained that despite making various representations to authorities seeking "equity of treatment," his complaints were ignored and "being used vindictively and in a revengeful manner against me in a malafide manner."

Amneet Kumar, in her complaint, described her husband's suicide note as a "document of broken spirit," adding, "Justice should not merely be done, but seen to be done - even for families like ours, shattered by the cruelty of the powerful. My children deserve answers. My husband's decades of public service deserve dignity, not silence."