Tags:
Journalism of Courage
A 32-year-old man died after he allegedly set himself ablaze by pouring petrol on himself in full public view on the campus of Tundla tehsil in Firozabad on Thursday afternoon.
Praveen Parasar,who suffered 80 percent burns,was rushed to the district hospital where doctors referred him to Agra. He died in a Agra hospital during treatment on Thursday evening.
A day after the death,his family alleged that Praveen took the extreme step after he was allegedly harassed by officials and local residents.
Praveens cousin Yogesh Parasar said officials harassed him because he had filed a complaint against one Ranveer Singh,a Dalit,who was constructing a house on gram sabha land. He alleged that tehsil officials,instead of taking action against Ranveer,started harassing his brother by making false allegations against him.
Praveens father Jai Prakash Parasar,a resident of Basai village,lodged an FIR against eight persons,including four officials,at Tundla police station on charges of abetment of suicide.
Those named were sub-divisional magistrate Atul Kumar,nayab tehsildar Laxmi Narayan,lekhpal Dharmendra Yadav and a revenue officer. Also named were four villagers of Basai,namely Vicky,Chappu Lal,Ranveer Singh and Bhoge Lal.
In a cross-FIR,Laxmi Narayan lodged a case against Praveen and Jai Prakash,alleging that Jai Prakash and others had prompted Praveen to set himself ablaze.
Firozabad District Magistrate Sandhya Tiwari said a magisterial inquiry has been ordered into the death. Praveen was married and had three children,the youngest being a four-year-old girl.
According to Yogesh,on May 7 Praveen filed a complaint with the SDM,stating that Ranveer Singh was constructing a house on gram sabha land. The SDM directed the tehsildar to conduct an inquiry. The tehsildar,along with the nayab tehsildar and lekpal,conducted the inquiry and filed a report stating that Ranveer was renovating the house and no new construction was being done.
In the meantime,Ranveer filed a complaint against Praveen stating that he had cut down a tree. After inquiry,officials of the tehsil filed a police complaint against Praveen. Two days back,the police went to Praveens house,looking for him. Yogesh said following the police raid,Praveen was tense.
On Thursday,Praveen went to the tehsil office along with his father and inquired why police action had been taken against him. Yogesh said after they were brushed aside by officials,Praveen came out and set himself ablaze.
Meanwhile,journalists who were busy shooting the incident on the campus were chased away by lawyers who accused them of prompting Praveen to take the extreme step.
The lawyers also detained one journalist and released him after the intervention of senior police and administrative officials who reached the spot after hearing about the incident.
