Gohana incident: SIT formed to probe Dalit boy’s death

A Special Investigation Team has been formed to probe the death of a 14-year-old Dalit youth in Gohana in Haryana.

A Special Investigation Team has been formed to probe the death of a 14-year-old Dalit youth in Gohana in Haryana, a day after two ASIs were booked on murder charges following allegations from the family that he died in police custody.

A 14-year-old Dalit boy allegedly died in police custody, in Gohana town of Haryana (ANI Photo)

The move to form the SIT-headed by a DSP came as Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar came under attack for claiming that the boy, Govind, had committed suicide.

Police said the postmortem, which was conducted by a board of doctors, showed that the boy died due to hanging.

“The SIT has been formed in the case. The report of the postmortem, which was conducted by a board of doctors, says that the boy died due to hanging. There was also a mark on his neck,” the Rohtak Range inspector general of police, Shrikant Jadhav, told PTI on Saturday.

On the directions of Jadhav, a SIT had also been formed to conduct further investigations in the case.

“The SIT will be headed by Rohtak Police DSP rank officer Amit Bhatia,” superintendent of police, Sonipat, Abhishek Garg said on Saturday.

The two assistant sub-inspectors were booked on murder charges and also under sections of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act on the direction of National Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Commission.

On Friday, chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar had told reporters here that “the post mortem report will throw light on why the suicide took place and for what reasons.”

He had said the boy’s family was involved in a dispute with another family over some money and pigeon and that the boy was not questioned and he had himself gone to the police station.

The Gohana incident had come close on the heels of two Dalit children being burnt alive at Sunperh village in Faridabad district last week.