A Dalit youth, Manjunath (25), allegedly committed suicide in his house at Narasapur in Kolar taluk on Monday evening. He reportedly did so after returning from the jurisdictional Vemagal police station, where he had gone to appear for an inquiry by the police.
His relatives and Dalit organisations have alleged that Manjunath committed suicide after being harassed by the police during interrogation. They took his body to the police outpost at Narasapur to protest against the alleged police harassment and ransacked the outpost as no senior officials arrived at the spot.
According to Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySp) Abdul Sattar, Manjunath was one of the accused in a case related to ransacking of a company premises at Narasapur Industrial Area. A rowdy sheet was opened against the accused in the case, including Manjunath. “He was warned to attend the monthly interrogation without fail,” he said.
Last rites held as peace returns
Later, the situation returned to normalcy at Narasapur even as the last rites of Manjunath were held in the village on Tuesday. “Situation in the area was peaceful”, DySP Abdul Sattar told The Hindu .
The family members of Manjunath took the body after autopsy was conducted at a private hospital on the outskirts of the town. Central Range IGP Seemanthkumar Singh and Superintedent of Police Divya Gopinath visited Narasapur following the incident.
Condemned
While condoling Manjunath’s death, the district unit of Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) condemned the police approach to the industrial unrest. CITU district president Gandhinagar Narayanaswamy said that opening of rowdy sheets against the workers, who were fighting for their wages and other rights, was reprehensible. He demanded that action be initiated against police officers as well as officials of the private company who allegedly forced police to register false cases against Manjunath and others. The police should stop such measures, else the organisation will launch an agitation against such steps, he said.
The CITU submitted a memorandum to the district administration demanding a thorough inquiry into the incident and punishment to the 'guilty' police personnel. The organisation said a padayatra from Narasapur to Kolar wiould be conducted and a dharna launched in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office seeking justice.
