Haryana IPS officer’s death raises caste-harassment allegations, mental torture

In a heartbreaking and deeply unsettling incident, Haryana Police officer Y. Puran Kumar, 52, allegedly took his own life at his residence in Sector 11, Chandigarh, leaving behind a painful testament of harassment, humiliation, and systemic discrimination he endured over several years.

Kumar, a 2001-batch IPS officer, was discovered in a basement room of his home with a gunshot wound. Known for his vigorous advocacy on officers’ rights and seniority matters, he was recently posted as Inspector General of the Police Training Centre (PTC), Sunaria, Rohtak.

According to sources, Kumar left an eight-page typed note and a will, 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 reportedly detailed a pattern of systematic abuse and humiliation, alleging that several senior officers subjected him to caste-based discrimination, public degradation, and persistent mental harassment. Kumar, who belonged to a Scheduled Caste community, wrote that these actions included:

• Fabrication and circulation of anonymous complaints aimed at tarnishing his reputation.

• Denial or delay of earned leaves, preventing him from visiting his dying father.

• Withdrawal of his official vehicle in November 2023.

• Imposition of additional rules in allotting official accommodation in Panchkula, while colleagues faced no such restrictions.

• Biased performance appraisal comments from a top-ranking officer in 2024, which he described as “factually incorrect, purely imaginary, and loaded with personal prejudice.”

Kumar stated in the note that despite repeated complaints, no corrective action was taken, and the harassment continued unabated, leaving him mentally exhausted and feeling cornered.

“I thought over carefully and was convinced I cannot bear 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,” his note reportedly read.

His wife, Amneet P. Kumar, a bureaucrat who returned from Japan as part of a Haryana government delegation, lodged a complaint alleging “systematic persecution” of her husband by senior officers. She requested an FIR against DGP Haryana Shatrujeet Kapur 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.

Chandigarh Police seized physical and electronic evidence, including the weapon used in the alleged suicide, and recovered the final note and will from the residence. CCTV footage from the house has been analyzed, and a medical board with a forensic expert has been constituted for the post-mortem. Additional rooms in the residence, previously sealed by the Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory (CFSL), Sector 36, yielded another copy of the will and note along with electronic devices.

Congress MP from Ambala, Varun Chaudhary, called the incident “deeply tragic and shocking”, demanding a judicial inquiry to ensure a fair and transparent investigation.

The case has cast a harsh spotlight on alleged systemic harassment and caste-based discrimination within the police bureaucracy, raising urgent questions about mental health support, workplace equity, and accountability in India’s law enforcement agencies.

Kumar’s tragic demise is being mourned across administrative and political circles, with growing calls for thorough, impartial investigations into the allegations he detailed, as well as reforms to prevent such tragedies in the future.

With PTI inputs