As the controversy over Haryana IPS officer Y Puran Kumar’s alleged death by suicide deepened Saturday, with family yet to give consent for postmortem even four days after the incident, political leaders from several states, cutting across party lines, met his bureaucrat wife Amneet P Kumar in Chandigarh. From Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann and senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia to Bhim Army chief and MP Chandrashekhar Azad and Congress MPs Charanjit Singh Channi, Kumari Selja and Deepender Hooda, several leaders reached Amneet’s residence to express condolences and solidarity with the family. Congress parliamentary party chairperson Sonia Gandhi wrote a letter to Amneet, who is a Commissioner and Secretary in Haryana government, saying she and millions of people of the country stand with her on her path to justice. “The passing of Mr Y Puran Kumar is a reminder to us that even today, the prejudiced and biased attitude of those in power deprives even the most senior officials of social justice.” Kumar, 52, a 2001-batch officer, allegedly shot himself dead at his residence in Chandigarh Sector 11 on Tuesday. In an eight-page “final note”, Kumar named nine serving and a retired IPS officer, and three retired IAS officers for allegedly harassing and maligning him. The Haryana government transferred one of them, Rohtak SP Narendra Bijarniya, Saturday. BSP president Mayawati, posted in Hindi on X that Dalits and Bahujan communities are particularly agitated over the development. “This extremely tragic and serious incident is particularly shameful for a civilised government and proves that despite numerous claims, the scourge of casteism persists, especially in governance and administration, and that governments are failing to curb it. However, this is more a matter of government intentions and policies. This unfortunate incident deserves a timely, independent and impartial probe, and perpetrators should be severely punished so that such painful incidents, which shame a civilised society, do not occur again.” “.It would be better if the Supreme Court and the Centre also take proper cognisance,” she said. “Those who link reservations for Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and OBCs to economic status and talk about the creamy layer should learn from such incidents, because even after attaining wealth and position, the ugly side of casteism does not spare the members of these communities and caste-based exploitation, oppression and persecution continue at every level, the latest example of which is the current incident in Haryana.” After meeting Amneet, former Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi said during the farmers’ agitation, Kumar was allegedly instructed to take strict action, including opening fire. “He refused. That was his integrity. Kumar did not commit suicide; he is a martyr who stood up for justice and the downtrodden,” Channi said. Saying that even an ADGP-rank officer is unable to get justice, he said, “This is the result of the Manuwadi mindset propagated by the RSS-BJP, which has now spread across the country. It is this mindset that forced Kumar to take the extreme step.”
