You will get justice after your death, says UP cop

A brazenly insensitive remark made by a senior Uttar Pradesh cop has allegedly prompted the man, whose brother was a victim of honour killing, to attempt self-immolation in state’s Bulandshahar district, about 450 kilometres from Lucknow.

The man, identified as Yusuf sustained 98 per cent burns and is now battling for life at a hospital.

According to reports, Mehvish, whose husband had been killed last year allegedly by her brothers in what was claimed to be honour killing, had an altercation with her brothers’ families a few days ago. Mehvish and her husband Abdul Hakim had shot into fame after they appeared on film actor Amir Khan's TV show ‘Satyamev Jayate’. Mehvish and Hakim belonged to the same village. Her brothers had also threatened to kill her and her two children.

Mehvish claimed that Ram Bhajan Singh, the station in-charge of Kotwali police station in the district, had made a rude and insensitive remark when she asked him to act against the culprits. “Don’t speak too much, don’t you know me? I am related to the chief minister,” Singh told Mehvish.

When Mehvish replied that he should help her in getting justice, the cop replied that she would get it after her death. “You (Mehvish) will get justice only after death,” the cop reportedly told the woman. She also claimed that the cop even taunted her when she and her dead husband's brother Yusuf threatened to commit self immolation if denied justice. “Killing oneself is not that easy..it is not a child’s play,” Singh allegedly said.

Yusuf then poured kerosene over his body and set himself ablaze. Singh was later suspended by the officials but Mehvish wants to register a case against the cop. “He in fact prompted Yusuf to attempt self-immolation”, she alleged.

UP police have a history of making insensitive comments against complainants. A few days ago a UP policeman had turned away a woman, who had approached him for registering her complaint regarding kidnapping of her minor daughter.