FIR against eight after UP Village Development Officer ends life following harassment over caste
LUCKNOW: A village development officer (VDO), Trivendra Kumar ended life after being allegedly harassed for being a Dalit in Gola Block of Lakhimpur Kheri district.
The victim has left a suicide note on the basis of which Police have registered FIR against eight individuals for abetment to suicide.
Kumar, a native of Azamgarh, was to get married on November 28.
Narrating his tale of woes in his suicide note, the officer reportedly wrote that he was tired of being mentally tortured by the village heads and members of Kisan Union Party (KUP) and that they were directly responsible for his death.
He, specifically, mentioned action against the accused so that others did not meet the same fate.
As per the sources, Kumar was found hanging inside his house in Shivsagar locality of in the city area on Thursday.
His career, taken off in 2019 itself, turned out to be his nemesis as e was subjected to repeated harassment by two members of KUP, the village head of Rasoolpur and son of Devaria village head.
Notably, a few hours after Kumar’s death, a video showing KUP members insulting him at a public meeting surfaced on social media.
Two persons were held by police in Gola town after receiving a written complaint from District Panchayati Raj Officer. Their names were not officially revealed though. It was his first posting. In November he was set to marry the daughter of a PCS officer.
But, the small eight-month stint was replete with incidents of humiliation on several occasions. As a result, he had started remaining upset. The final blow came earlier this week when Kumar was publicly insulted by the persons named in his suicide note.
Kumar’s suicide note further stated that people used to abuse him for getting selected through the reservation. The VDO wrote that he loved his family a lot and requested the authorities not to trouble them for his extreme step.
Lakhimpur DM Shailendra Kumar Singh claimed that he had got the FIR registered under IPC section 306 (Abetment to suicide) and SC/ST Act against all the perpetrators responsible for the suicide of Trivendra Kumar. They would be arrested without fail, said the DM.
The DM also said that he was now watchful of such incidents of harassment faced by other officers as well. He claimed that he would arrange for counselling of the officers in the field and strict action would be taken against such elements who tried to create a rift on caste lines in the society.