(If you feel suicidal or know someone in distress, please reach out to them with kindness and call these numbers of local emergency services, helplines, and mental health NGOs.)
Sub-Inspector Naresh Pal of Chhaprauli police station was suspended on Thursday, 26 May, after the death of a woman and her two daughters, who allegedly consumed rat poison in his presence on Tuesday. The incident took place during a police raid at their home in Uttar Pradesh's Baghpat.
On Friday, Superintendent of Police Neeraj Kumar Jadaun, according to PTI, said:
"Acting on the complaint lodged by the family members of the deceased, SI Naresh Pal was suspended on Thursday night."
Jadaun also said that the case had been transferred to the Crime Branch of the district police.
He had, however, previously told PTI that the police raid at the house in Baghpat, during the course of which the three women had consumed poison, was conducted in presence of a few villagers, and that the police team did not misbehave.
FIR Against Sub-Inspector Naresh Pal
An FIR was also filed against Naresh Pal and several others on the complaint of Mahak Singh, the man who lost his wife and daughters in the incident. The charges include Section 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code.
Also named in the FIR are Kantilal and his two sons, who had formerly filed a complaint against Singh's son Prince and are alleged to have accompanied the police team to Singh's residence when the said incident took place.
What Had Happened?
On 3 May, an FIR was lodged against Mahak Singh's 24-year-old son Prince, under Section 366 (kidnapping, abducting, and inducing woman to compel her marriage) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), after Prince and Kantilal's 22-year-old daughter had reportedly gone missing together.
According to The Indian Express, Kantilal and his family are Dalits and Singh belongs to an iron-smith caste (OBC).
On Tuesday night, the Chhaprauli Police arrived at Prince's home but nobody opened the door. Thereafter, the police made their way into the house through the roof of their neighbours' house and started to look for the man. However, only Prince's mother and sisters were home.
Amid their alleged torture by the police, the woman and her daughters allegedly consumed poison. Following this, they were rushed to Chhaprauli's CHC Hospital and subsequently, in a serious condition, to Meerut's Subharti hospital.
Mahak Singh had said that he would end his life if no action was taken. The family was also refusing to perform the last rites until a case was registered against the station incharge and others. The villagers had staged a protest demanding action against the accused.
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