don-t-cast-kumar-s-suicide-in-caste-straightjacket

The suicide by senior IPS officer Y Puran Kumar is most tragic to say the least. That someone at his position, having been an officer of the prestigious Indian Police Service and having reached the position of the Inspector General of Police, with a promise to go higher, had to commit suicide out of sheer frustration, helplessness, desperation and professional suffocation is the failure of the system as a whole. Given his record of taking stand on righteous issues from time to time reminds of the character—Captain John Yossarian depicted as the “rebel victim” in the post-World War II American novel "Catch 22" written by Joseph Heller.

 

Kumar indeed was a rebel. Sadly, he ended up as a victim apparently having resigned to a desperate fate against the system he was trying to fight and eventually paying with his life. The act of suicide is the ultimate act of desperation, frustration and helplessness. The moot question is if an IPS officer of the rank of the IGP cannot get justice for himself and has to end his life out of helplessness, what would be the plight of a common man who has to fight against the same system for getting justice every day. This holds true of people belonging to every caste.

 

Also read: ADGP Y Puran Kumar cited harassment in suicide note

 

People and political parties trying to cast it as a case of mere caste victimisation are not doing any good to the deceased officer. It is more out of their interest in projecting the ruling dispensation as an anti-Dalit regime than being sympathetic towards the officer who was forced to take his own life. While the sections of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act have been included in the case to ensure stringent punishment for those responsible for his suicide, the matter is much more serious.

 

In the polarised times where people and groups try to view everything in narrow and sectarian ways, the suicide of an IPS officer is also made out to be case of mere caste victimisation. This is not to suggest that there may not have been a caste angle in discrimination against him, but by making that an exclusive motive will simply mean making the culprits get away with other acts of deliberate omission and commission that pushed Kumar to such an extreme extent of desperation and helplessness that he found it better to take his own life than to continue fighting against the system.

 

There indeed are many more people who are victimised like Kumar. All of them do not come from the reserved categories. The case of IAS officer Ashok Khemka, again from Haryana, is another example. Khemka was consistently and continuously victimised by the “system” which did not allow him to work honestly. There are others also who, like Kumar, refuse to compromise with the system and suffer prolonged “persecution” in multiple ways like vindictive inquiries and investigations, inconsequential postings and deliberate humiliations inflicted in different ways. 

 

Also read: Hooda seeks probe into IPS officer’s suicide

 

Political parties and their leaders would do better by avoiding to interpret such tragedies in narrow sectarian ways. Congress leaders right from Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and others have seized the opportunity to settle their score against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the state and the Centre. There is no doubt that their main purpose is to corner the BJP than to get justice for Kumar. Importantly, Kumar in his suicide note, has not blamed any political leader or the government but pinpointed the police officers and bureaucrats who victimised and persecuted him thus pushing him to commit suicide.

 

But the Congress leaders have conveniently attributed this victimisation to the BJP instead of the bureaucrats and police officers whom Kumar has named. If the party believes that it may serve any political purpose, it is badly mistaken. Rushing with “letters of sympathy” to the victim’s family and holding press conferences and candlelight processions also will not serve much purpose for the party.

 

Interestingly, while the Punjab unit of the Congress has decided to hold candlelight processions across all districts, the Haryana unit has not planned or done any such thing. Although Haryana Congress leaders have also expressed solidarity and sympathy and referred to Kumar’s victimisation because of his caste, they have not been as aggressive as their Punjab counterparts.

 

The reason is obvious. Punjab is scheduled to go for assembly elections in about 15 months from now. Moreover, Punjab has over 30 per cent Dalit population. The party does not want to waste this “God send” opportunity to express solidarity with the Dalit community using the tragedy of the suicide of an IPS officer.

 

Opposition parties must exercise utmost caution and restraint in interpreting and reacting to such tragic incidents. Their reaction has the potential of unwanted consequences like caste polarisation that may not necessarily help in getting justice for the victim.

 

Also read: IPS suicide: FIR updated after wife objects to ‘diluted sections'

 

Kumar no doubt came from a Dalit background. He obviously was a brilliant mind who could make it to the elite IPS. There is as tough competition for the reserved positions as for the general categories. There is still a misperception that those coming through reserved positions face lesser competition than the general categories. That may be the case for admissions in some basic educational institutions, but for the elite civil services, competition for the reserved categories is quite tough.

 

Not only was he brilliant to make it to the IPS, he obviously was righteous, sensitive and conscientious that he would take positions whenever he found anything wrong happening to him. Normally most of the officers, particularly in the IPS and the IAS, avoid taking positions lest they antagonise their bosses and suffer more persecution. Kumar apparently refused to submit and tried to argue and reason out his case, thus getting more persecuted.

 

Unfortunately, he appeared to have given up at one stage where he felt taking his own life, instead of fighting the system he was placed against, was an easier option. A brilliant, sensitive and conscientious mind was forced to give up. The rebel ended up being the victim. There is certainly a rot in the system that needs to be addressed at a larger and broader scale. Narrowing it down to the straightjacket of caste, may serve some political/ electoral purpose for the parties, but it will not do any justice to the victim and many others, who are suffering like him. He was not just an SC IPS officer. He had a mind of his own, brilliant, sensitive and conscientious and he paid with his life for that. Political parties must not burry his other qualities under their “caste” rhetoric. It may serve their own purpose to some extent but it does not do any good or justice to the deceased officer.