Haryana cop's 'final note' details 'mental harassment', humiliation, names DGP: Sources
Chandigarh (PTI): A note left behind by Haryana Police officer Y Puran Kumar, who allegedly shot himself dead at his Chandigarh residence, names "senior officers" and details "mental harassment" and humiliation he faced over the past few years, according to sources.
Y Puran Kumar, 52, a 2001-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, was found with a gunshot wound in a room in the basement of his Sector 11 house.
Known for his interventions in matters related to the rights of officers and seniority, Puran Kumar was recently posted as the Inspector General of the Police Training Centre (PTC) in Rohtak's Sunaria.
His bureaucrat wife, Amneet P Kumar, who rushed to Chandigarh from Japan, where she was a part of a Haryana government delegation, on Wednesday claimed in a police complaint that her husband's death was the result of "systematic persecution" by high-ranking officers.
She requested an FIR against Shatrujeet Kapur, DGP Haryana, and another senior IPS officer, under Section 108 BNS, 2023 (abetment of suicide) and provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Both officers could not be reached on the phone despite attempts.
Physical and electronic evidence, including the weapon Puran Kumar allegedly used to shoot himself, was seized by a team from the Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory (CFSL), Chandigarh police said on Tuesday.
A "will" and a "final note" were also found at the scene and seized, police said.
Sources said that Kumar left an eight-page typed and signed 'final note', which he titled "Continued blatant caste based discrimination, targeted mental harassment, public humiliation and atrocities by concerned senior officers of Haryana since August 2020 which is now unbearable."
The note alleges caste-based discrimination, public humiliation, targeted mental harassment, and atrocities the officer was subjected to, the sources said.
It mentions a "mala fide generation of mischievous anonymous and pseudo-anonymous" complaints against him, floated and processed by some officers for months together to publicly humiliate and embarrass him and thereby damage his reputation, they said.
Kumar, who comes from the Scheduled Caste community, named a few officers who allegedly blatantly misused their official positions and authority, and compelled him to kill himself, according to sources.
Despite complaints against the officers, they were not investigated, the letter claims, sources said.
The note mentions an instance where a bureaucrat, now retired, did not sanction his earned leave on time, due to which he could not visit his father before his death.
Kumar, in the note, says that he raised these issues before many officers, "which are a matter of record," sources said.
The note alleges that some officers left no stone unturned in harassing him by their "discriminatory, caste based mental harassment and humiliation in public view."
"... I thought over carefully and was convinced and I cannot bare this continued and concerted conspiracy … to continue with caste-based discrimination, public humiliation, targeted mental harassment and atrocities any longer and hence this final decision to end it all," it reads, according to the sources.
Kumar alleges that no action was taken when he complained against a fellow officer, "which clearly is proof of prejudicial treatment against me."
He alleges that a top-ranking IPS officer from the state made certain comments in his annual performance appraisal report for the period ending March 31, 2024, which were "factually incorrect, purely imaginary, unsubstantiated, loaded with his personal prejudice and in violation of principles of natural justice."
He says he approached a senior bureaucrat requesting him to intervene, but in vain, sources said.
The note mentions that while allotting official accommodation to him in Panchkula, Kumar was subjected to additional rules, while in another incident, in November 2023, his official vehicle was withdrawn.
Meanwhile, Congress MP from Ambala, Varun Chaudhary, termed the suicide "deeply tragic and shocking" and demanded a judicial inquiry to ensure a fair and transparent probe into the incident.
On Wednesday, Chandigarh police in a statement said they had analysed "some CCTV cameras" in connection with the alleged suicide.
"Request was moved to Director Health Services Chandigarh for constitution of a medical board with a forensic expert for post-mortem.
"Further, additional rooms in the residence (in Sector 11) which were inaccessible yesterday and were sealed by the CFSL, Sector 36, Chandigarh, wherein another copy for Will and final note were recovered. Some electronic items were also seized from the residence," police said.
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ASHA workers threaten indefinite strike from Feb 27 over rationalisation order, pending demands
Bengaluru: ASHA workers in Karnataka have warned of launching an indefinite strike from February 27, protesting a health department order to rationalise the workforce and alleging that long-pending demands have not been addressed.
The Karnataka State Joint ASHA Workers’ Association criticised the department’s decision to increase the population assigned to each ASHA worker, arguing that it violates existing norms and would lead to large-scale job losses. According to current norms, one ASHA worker is assigned for every 1,000 individuals. Under the current rationalisation plan, the allotted population in rural regions has been increased to up to 2,000, while in metropolitan areas with populations more than 50,000, the number has been raised from 1,000 to a minimum of 2,500 and a maximum of 3,000.
Deccan Herald quoted D Nagalakshmi, state secretary of the ASHA Union affiliated to AITUC, as saying the department had conveyed that an honorarium of ₹10,000 could not be ensured unless the population coverage per worker was increased. She alleged that workers were effectively being asked to accept higher workloads while excess ASHAs would be removed. “This would render nearly 7,000 to 8,000 ASHA workers jobless, and such a move is being carried out only in Karnataka,” she said.
At present, the state government pays ASHA workers a monthly honorarium of ₹5,000, while the Centre provides performance-based incentives. Workers said accessing these incentives has become difficult as data must be entered on the ASHA portal by primary health community officers, but vacancies in these posts have not been filled.
The workers have also submitted a set of pre-Budget demands, seeking an increase in the combined state and central incentives to ₹15,000 and enhancement of the state honorarium to ₹ 8,000, in line with promises made in the Congress election manifesto. Other demands include a lump-sum retirement benefit on the lines of West Bengal, creation of a corpus fund to meet treatment expenses of ASHA workers suffering from serious illnesses with reimbursement provisions, and payment of a fixed monthly honorarium for up to three months during recovery from severe illness.
ASHA workers had staged an indefinite protest in January over similar issues. On the fourth day of the agitation, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah intervened and assured the workers that their demands would be met.
