Chandigarh: Punjab MP and former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Saturday described late IPS officer Y. Puran Kumar as “a martyr who stood up for Dalits and the poor,” claiming that the officer had refused to open fire on farmers during the Haryana agitation.
Channi made the remarks after visiting the Chandigarh residence of Kumar and his wife, IAS officer Amneet P. Kumar. He alleged that Kumar, while posted in Haryana, was instructed to take harsh action against protesting farmers but refused to do so.
“During the farmers’ protest, Y. Puran Kumar was told to open fire and take tough action against the agitating farmers. He refused to do so. That was his integrity,” Channi said. “He did not commit suicide; he was martyred for justice and for the downtrodden.”
The Congress MP alleged that the officer’s death exposed the “Manuwadi mindset” propagated by the RSS–BJP, which he said had “poisoned India’s institutions.”
“Even senior police officers are being denied justice. It is this mindset that forced Kumar to take the extreme step,” he claimed.
Channi said Kumar was a vocal advocate for the fair treatment of Dalit and reserved category officers within the police force.
“He often questioned why Dalit officers were denied key postings as SHOs and DSPs. He was carrying forward the ideology of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar,” he said.
Expressing anger over the handling of the case, Channi alleged that those responsible for Kumar’s death were being shielded.
“His body is being disrespected, and the guilty are being protected,” he said, demanding arrests of all officers named in the note Kumar left behind.
Responding to reports that SP Narender Bijarniya one of those named had been transferred from Rohtak, Channi dismissed the move as cosmetic.
“Transfers are administrative formalities, not punishments,” he said. “Whenever there is a case, an FIR is registered and arrests are made. But here, nothing has happened. This is now routine under BJP rule.”
Reiterating support for Kumar’s family, Channi said the Congress would stand by them in their fight for justice.
“He was a martyr who laid down his life fighting for the oppressed,” Channi said.
Y. Puran Kumar, a 2001-batch IPS officer, was found dead with a gunshot wound at his residence on Tuesday. He reportedly left behind a note naming several senior officers and detailing the alleged mental harassment and humiliation he had faced over the years. His wife, Amneet P. Kumar, serves as a senior IAS officer in the Haryana government.
