Chandigarh: Student ends life, kin allege police torture
The mother of the victim has accused an ASI deployed at the Chandigarh cybercrime police of torturing all four students who were reportedly called to the police station in Sector 17 on Saturday.
A Class 11 student of a government school in Chandigarh reportedly died by suicide at his house in Zirakpur on Saturday.
The mother of the victim has accused an ASI deployed at the Chandigarh cybercrime police of torturing all four students who were reportedly called to the police station in Sector 17 on Saturday.
The police have also recovered a suicide note in which the boy has addressed his mother sharing his disturbed mental health due to a social media controversy that erupted in his school a few months ago, without naming any cop.
The victim’s mother, who is a single parent, has lodged a complaint with the Zirakpur police seeking action against the UT cop and the school authorities.
“The students of the school had made a funny meme page of teachers on Instagram. The school principal had called me to the school informing me about the same five months ago following which I checked the Instagram ID of my child, but nothing was found. On Saturday, I was in Jalandhar when I got a call from an ASI of the UT cyber police who asked me to bring my child to the police station,” the mother said in her complaint.
She added that she told the cop that she was out of station and would bring the child the next day, but when she returned home, she could not find her son.
“My son had locked the door of his room from inside. When he did not open the door for long, I broke the glass of the back window of the room and saw him hanging from the ceiling fan, following which I rushed him to a private hospital where he was declared brought dead,” the mother said in her complaint.
Doctors found a suicide note from his pocket which they handed over to the Mohali Police.
After the victim’s kin talked to his friends, they got to know that he went to sector 17, Chandigarh cybercrime police station, along with other students.
“They assaulted all the children in separate rooms during questioning. The school principal also harassed him. After returning from the police station, he ended his life,” the mother said while talking to the media.
Another student, who was also called by the UT police, claimed that the police assaulted and abused them.
“They showed us our posts on the meme page and threatened to register a criminal case against us. Even teachers threatened us there. My friend who ended his life was abused and tortured by the police,” the student said.
However, Zirakpur police have not registered an FIR.
“If the boy was tortured at the Chandigarh Police station, UT senior police officers will order a probe. Students were called by the police following a formal complaint by the school authorities. There is no abetment as such and thus we have not registered any FIR in Mohali,” a senior Mohali cop said.
Jaskanwal Singh Sekhon, SHO, Zirakpur police station, said, “The investigation is still on in the case following which we will take appropriate action.”
However, senior officials of the UT education department claimed that the allegations of harassment were not true. “After coming across the comments, the principal had written to the department and the police that the Instagram page may be taken down. There was no harassment as alleged,” they said.
The principal had lodged a complaint with the cyber cell on December 9, 2024, regarding the creation of a fake Instagram account allegedly used to post offensive and abusive content. It featured pictures of teachers followed by obscene and derogatory remarks.
Following the complaint, cyber police tracked several IP addresses and summoned the father of a student for questioning. The student later called his friends, who also joined the inquiry.
A senior UT cop said the claims in the complaint have not been substantiated so far, and no formal inquiry has been marked yet into the allegations of the victim’s family.
UT SSP Kanwardeep Kaur could not be reached out for comments despite repeated attempts.