Gurugram: The Chandigarh Police have amended its FIR in the IPS officer Y. Puran Kumar suicide case, replacing the SC/ST Act provision that attracted just six-month jail with one that mandates a life term. This came on a day the Haryana government transferred Rohtak SP Narendra Bijraniya, who Kumar accused of harassing him.
A source in the Chandigarh Police confirmed that in FIR No. 156, registered at the Sector 11 Police Station in Chandigarh 9 October, the initially invoked section 3(1)(r) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act has been replaced with Section 3(2)(V).
Earlier on Saturday, the Haryana government shifted Bijarniya and appointed Surender Singh Bhoria, Commandant, 5th Battalion of the Haryana Armed Police, Madhuban, in his place.
The order issued Saturday by Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Sumita Misra said Bijarniya’s posting orders will be issued separately.
In her original complaint to the Chandigarh police 9 October, Puran Kumar’s wife Amneet P. Kumar had accused Haryana DGP Shatrujeet Kapur of masterminding the plot to entrap her husband in fabricated cases by using Rohtak SP Bijarnia, since transferred from there.
In his purported eight-page suicide note, which he titled ‘final note’, Puran Kumar has also made these charges against the two officers.
Amid the growing outcry, the Chandigarh Police registered an FIR on 9 October.
The next day, Amneet P. Kumar gave a representation to Chandigarh SSP Kanwardeep Kaur, pointing out non-mentioning of the names of the accused in column 7 (meant for carrying the names of the accused) of the FIR, invoking a milder Section of the SC/ST Act and the police’s failure to provide a copy of the ‘final note’ recovered from her deceased husband’s pocket so that she could compare it with the note reproduced in the FIR.
Speaking to The Print on the day the FIR was filed, the Chandigarh SSP had said that not mentioning the names of accused in Column 7 was a common practice when there are more than one accused (the ‘final note’ mentioned as many as 15 officers).
On Amneet P. Kumar seeking a copy of the ‘final note’, the SSP said the items, including the note recovered from the place of incident, become case properties and hence they could not be shared with anyone till a report from the forensics lab is received.
She, however, said that the police will seek permission from the court on Amneet P Kumar’s request and if allowed, they won’t have any problem in sharing it with her.
On Amneet’s question of registering the FIR under a milder section of the SC/ST Act, Kaur had told The Print that the police would give a written statement on this later.
However, on Saturday, the police replaced Section 3(1)(r) of the SC/ST Act with Section 3(2)(V), as demanded by Amneet P. Kumar.
The 21-page initial FIR registered by the Chandigarh Police mentioned Sections 108 and 3 (5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and Section 3 (1) (r) of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (amendment 2015). It also included a copy of Kumar’s 8-page ‘final note’ and a three-page complaint filed by his wife.
In her representation on October 10, Amneet P Kumar said, “The section mentioned under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in the FIR is diluted. The appropriate section applicable in this case is Section 3(2)(v) of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, as amended. The sections must be added accordingly to ensure the correct legal provisions are applied.”
Section 3(2)(v) of SC/ST Act primarily deals with the punishment for serious offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) when they are committed against a member of a Scheduled Castes or a Scheduled Tribes on the ground of their caste or tribal identity.
The key provision states that whoever, not being a member of a SC or ST themselves, commits any offence under the Indian Penal Code, punishable with imprisonment for a term of 10 years or more, shall be charged under Section 3 (2) (v) of the Act, and shall be punishable with life imprisonment and fine.
In Y. Puran Kumar suicide case, since the FIR under the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita is for abetment to suicide, which is punishable with 10 years of imprisonment, Amneet’s plea was that the FIR should naturally have attracted Section 3 (2) (v) of the Act.
SIT intensifies probe
The police source cited above said that the Chandigarh Police SIT, headed by IG Pushpendra Kumar, wrote to the Haryana Police Saturday, seeking a copy of the FIR No. 319 registered at Rohtak’s Urban Estate police station and the investigation report.
The FIR accuses Puran Kumar’s gunman Sushil Kumar, a resident of Yamunanagar, of demanding bribes, with Puran Kumar also implicated.
The source indicated that once the Chandigarh Police gets the records pertaining to the FIR, the SIT is likely to summon former Rohtak SP Narendra Bijarnia for questioning.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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