Disabled man immolates self as cop beats him with shoes

Feeling humiliated allegedly after being beaten by a cop, a differently-abled youth immolated himself in Uttar Pradesh's Maharajganj district, about 400 kilometres from here.

The youth, identified as Jagannath Upadhyaya, a resident of Shitlapur village in the district, who had suffered 90 per cent burn injuries, died at the hospital on Tuesday.

The cop, identified as Bhagwan Bux Singh, a sub-inspector at Nichlaul police station in the district, has been suspended and a magisterial probe has been ordered into the incident.

According to the police sources here, Jagannath had been summoned by the cop at the police station for being quizzed in connection with a complaint on Monday. The cop allegedly beat him with shoes in the presence of other police personnel and other residents of his village.

''He (Jagannath) was very upset after he returned from the police station....in the evening he poured petrol over himself and set himself ablaze,'' his elder brother Kamalesh Upadhyaya said.

Jagannath was rushed to the district hospital from where he was referred to the Gorakhpur medical college after his condition deteriorated, sources said. He succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday morning.

''We have registered a case in this regard...a magisterial inquiry has also been ordered...we will take stern action against the cop if he is found guilty,'' said a senior police official in Maharajganj.

The incident comes a day after a gang-rape victim consumed poison with her parents in protest against alleged police inaction in Varanasi.