Dalit IPS Officer's Suicide Highlights Systemic Caste Discrimination in Police Force, Says Rahul Gandhi

Rahul Gandhi met the senior IPS officer's family at their home in Chandigarh today

Chandigarh:

Rahul Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, stated today that the suicide of Haryana IPS officer Y Puran Kumar has conveyed a devastating message to millions of Dalits that regardless of one's success, they can still be oppressed and discarded.

Gandhi visited the bereaved family at their Chandigarh residence, accompanied by prominent Congress leaders Deepender Singh Hooda and Kumari Selja.

After meeting with the family, Gandhi addressed the media, explaining that the officer had endured years of systematic discrimination while fellow officers actively worked to undermine his morale and damage both his professional career and personal reputation.

"This tragedy extends beyond a single family. There are millions of Dalit brothers and sisters across the country. A harmful message is being sent that regardless of your success, intelligence, or capabilities, if you belong to the Dalit community, you remain vulnerable to being crushed, trampled upon, and discarded. We find this absolutely unacceptable," he declared.

Gandhi urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini to take decisive action against the officers named in the suicide note discovered at Y Puran Kumar's residence.

Reports indicate that the 2001-batch IPS officer took his life with a firearm at his home on October 7. He leaves behind his wife, senior IAS officer Amneet P Kumar, and two daughters. The family has withheld consent for post-mortem procedures until authorities take action against the officers implicated in the suicide note.

Kumar, who held the rank of Inspector General of Police, accused 10 senior and retired police officers of "blatant caste-based discrimination, targeted mental harassment, public humiliation and atrocities".

Among those named are Haryana's highest-ranking police official, Director General of Police Shatrujeet Singh Kapur, who has since been placed on leave, and Rohtak police chief Narendra Bijarnia, who has been transferred. Kumar's family is demanding that authorities file an FIR against these individuals.

"This is not simply a case of ordinary suicide but a direct consequence of systematic persecution of my husband - an officer from the SC community - by influential, high-ranking officers who abused their positions to inflict mental torture, ultimately pushing him to such extremes that he felt he had no alternative but to end his life," stated Kumar's wife Amneet in her formal complaint.