In Sangrur, Punjab, the police removed the family members who had been protesting for five days and performed the last rites of the Dalit youth without their consent. The Aam Aadmi Party Sarpanch is accused of harassment.
Punjab: Serious allegations have been leveled against the police in the case of a 23-year-old Dalit youth’s suicide at Sangrur Civil Hospital on Thursday. The family alleges that the police forcibly removed them from the mortuary and conducted the post-mortem and cremation in their absence.
The deceased has been identified as Sanamdeep Singh, a mason by profession and a resident of Kanoi village. Sanamdeep consumed poison on September 25th and died a day later on September 26th. The family had kept the body in the hospital mortuary for the past five days, demanding justice. They were staging an indefinite sit-in protest, refusing to conduct a post-mortem or accept the body until the village sarpanch and his associates, affiliated with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), were arrested.
Sanamdeep’s uncle, Gora Singh, has leveled several serious allegations against the administration and the sarpanch. He stated that an FIR was filed against the sarpanch in 2019 based on Sanamdeep’s complaint. Gora Singh alleges that a false FIR was also filed against seven members of his family five months ago to pressure him into withdrawing the same case. The deceased was constantly subjected to mental harassment. Even when a sewer line was laid in the village, four of his houses were deliberately left out, and Sanamdeep was denied work under MNREGA.
Tensions escalated further on Thursday afternoon when police and administration teams arrived to clear the entrance to the mortuary. The family alleges that the police brutalized them. Sanamdeep’s mother and grandmother were dragged into a police van and the funeral was forcibly performed without the family’s consent.
According to Gora Singh, they were peacefully demanding justice and the implementation of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. He alleges that the police broke their promises, used excessive force, manhandled women, and, in collusion with municipal corporation employees, secretly cremated the body. He also said that the entire village was turned into a cantonment as if they were dealing with terrorists.
Amidst this commotion, the police arrested Congress official Rajinder Singh Deepa and three others from Sunam. They are accused of attacking policemen, damaging public property, and obstructing government work. They were produced in court and sent to judicial custody. In addition, the police detained eight members of Sandeep’s family and four others, although no FIR was filed against them.
On behalf of the police, Sangrur DSP Dalbir Singh Sidhu defended the entire action. He said that the body had begun to decompose severely, forcing the administration to take this drastic step. The senior medical officer had issued several notices warning that the body was rapidly decomposing. Section 301 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) makes it a crime to insult or leave a dead body in a deplorable state. Executive Magistrate-cum-Tehsildar Jagdeep Singh and health officials issued several notices to the family, but they refused to accept them due to political incitement.
DSP Sidhu clarified that on September 28, based on a complaint from Sandeep’s father, an FIR had already been registered at the Sangrur Sadar police station under sections 108 (abetment to suicide) and 3(5) of the IPC. Despite this, Deepa and other outsiders used the family as a pawn for political gain and insisted on arbitrary arrests before the post-mortem.
According to the police, when they initiated the legal process, the protesters became violent, hurling abuses, breaking bus windows, and attacking officers. Police had to use mild force to disperse the crowd. A board of three medical officers eventually conducted a post-mortem examination, and the young man’s last rites were performed at the crematorium on Ubhawal Road in the presence of municipal officials and some panchayat representatives.
Rajan Chaudhary
Courtesy: Hindi News