Three days after a 23-year-old man in Sangrur died by suicide on September 25, police have booked the village sarpanch and three other residents of Kanoi village under Section 108 (for abetment of suicide) and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
The FIR, a copy of which is with HT, alleges that the four had been threatening the victim’s family and hurling casteist slurs at them for several years in connection with a 2019 case registered against the sarpanch and others. Because the sarpanch, his brother, Harbans and his wife threatened them, the victim’s family alleged that their son consumed a poisonous substance. He, however, denied the allegation of delaying the statements, stating that the victim’s family themselves delayed the process. Arora did not respond to repeated calls and texts seeking comment. Meanwhile, the victim’s family is refusing to allow the post-mortem examination until the provisions of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act are added to the FIR.
“As no action was taken against the sarpanch and his associates for threatening the family, their son took the extreme step,” the complainant said. The FIR further alleges that the SHO of Sadar police station recorded the victim family’s statements after repeated requests, but DSP Sangrur allegedly tore the pages under political pressure and said that no FIR would be registered in the case. “They first denied giving statements to police and then later refused to sign them,” he said. The complainant alleged that a “false case was registered against the victim and six members of his family in May this year following the intervention of cabinet minister Aman Arora”.
Sangrur DSP Dalbir Singh said the victim’s family approached Sangrur SSP on Monday and recorded their statements, following which the case was registered.
