Father of Dalit man killed last month commits suicide

The father of a Dalit man who was allegedly beaten to death last month after his motorcycle hit a woman in Rajasthan's Alwar district has committed suicide, police said on Friday.

They said Ratiram Jatav (60) consumed a poisonous substance on Thursday, a month after his son died at a Delhi hospital.

Harish (28) had sustained serious head injuries on July 16 after he was allegedly thrashed by a group of men when his motorcycle hit the woman.

No suicide note has been recovered and Ratiram's body has been kept at a hospital's mortuary for post-mortem, Chaupanki police station in-charge Vijay Kumar Chandel said.

His family members on Friday refused to get the post-mortem conducted. They held a protest at Alwar's Tapukda Community Healthcare Centre, demanding compensation and a job for one of the family members.

Alwar Superintendent of Police Anil Paris Deshmukh said Ratiram's family has demanded a compensation of Rs 1 crore.

He added that the accused in Harish's killing have been booked under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the investigation is underway.

Blaming the Congress-led Rajasthan government for the incident, state BJP spokesperson Satish Punia demanded a CBI inquiry into Harish's killing.

"Ratiram committed suicide as he was disappointed over not getting justice for his son. Accused named in the FIR has not been arrested even after a month of Harish's death," Punia said at a press conference.

"It seems that protection of Dalits and the majority community is not the state government's priority. The government tried to sweep the matter under the carpet by giving Rs 4 lakh compensation (to Harish's family)," he added.

Punia claimed that the police booked the accused under section 302 of the IPC only after the local leaders protested.

He said the BJP has appointed a three-member committee to ascertain the facts in the case.

Harish died at Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi on July 19.

Initially, a case was registered under sections 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint) and 34 (acts are done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the IPC and under the SC/ST Act.

After Harish's death, charges under section 302 of the IPC were also added.