Suicide by Dalit due to alleged UP police torture: Family says no FIR lodged, forced to perform last rites

Two days have passed since National Herald broke the story of a Dalit youth committing suicide after UP police allegedly tortured and humiliated him for breaking COVID-19 quarantine rules.

However, no FIR has been registered so far.

Family members of the Dalit youth, Roshan Lal, who used to work as a daily wage worker in Gurugram, have been demanding investigation and FIR against the police inspector Anoop Kumar Singh whom Roshan Lal had named several times in his recorded audio message before killing himself, but to no avail.

“Despite several attempts and continuous pleading, UP police refused to register an FIR,” said one of Lal’s three brothers.

A cousin of the deceased youth told NH over the phone from his village, Fariya Pipariya, Lakhimpur, that family members including villagers were insisting that his last rites will not be performed till police lodges an FIR.

“But by afternoon, a large number of policemen arrived in the village and forced us to perform the last rites on April 2,” he said.

“They forced us to perform the last rites, warning us of dire consequences. They said we would be booked under stringent laws” added Roshan Lal’s cousin.

It may be recalled that Roshan Lal was put in quarantine in his village’s school after he returned to his village from Gurugram last week, following the lockdown chaos and mayhem.

Minutes before committing suicide, Lal in a recorded audio message said that inspector Anoop Singh had beaten him up mercilessly, because the latter suspected that he had tested COVID-19 positive, which was not the case.

When asked about the post-mortem report, Lal’s family members told NH that though a post-mortem was performed, police refused to hand over its report to them.

Denying the police’s version, according to which two policemen have been suspended after the incident, Roshan Lal’s uncle said, “We saw him (Anoop Singh) sitting inside the police station till Friday. Police are spreading lies to quell the anger”.

Saying that no one came forward to help them, the beleaguered family told NH that local BJP leaders were in washing their hands off the issue.

“They (BJP leaders) were heard saying such ‘small issues’ keep occurring; we don’t pay them any attention. We will act as and when our leadership says,” said Lal’s cousin, adding that the local BJP leaders tried to broker a ‘deal’ between the family members of Roshan Lal and the police.

NH called Thana Maigalganj for the police version several times, but the contact number given in the police directory of Lakhimpur Kheri district remained out of reach.