NHRC issues notice to CBI on bureaucrat's family's suicide

The NHRC on Thursday issued notice to the CBI over the alleged torture of suspended senior bureaucrat B.K. Bansal and his family that led to their suicide, an official statement said.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Director to share a copy of the suicide note penned by Bansal, which includes the names of the CBI officers and officials whom Bansal held responsible for the suicides of his wife and daughter as well.

The NHRC also asked the central agency to file a report within 72 hours on the action taken regarding the allegations made out in the suicide note.

The commission asked the CBI Director also to give the name of the Head Constable whose name is not mentioned but who is referred to as 'mota' (fat) havaldar in Bansal's suicide note.

"They (CBI officers) cannot be allowed to resort to physical assault, mental and physical torture of an alleged offender or his family members. It is supposed to be a protector and defender of human rights," the NHRC statement said.

Corporate Affairs Ministry officer Bansal, who committed suicide along with his son Yogesh at his house in Neelkanth Apartments in east Delhi on Tuesday, in his suicide note said that the CBI officers not only tortured him but also his wife and daughter, which drove them too to commit suicide on July 19.

"... it (Commission) fully endorses the reported statement made by B.K. Bansal in the suicide note to the effect that even if he was at fault in the case, why were his wife and daughter pushed to suicide," the NHRC said.

Bansal had mentioned CBI Deputy Inspector General Sanjeev Gautam in his suicide note, quoting the officer as telling him (Bansal) that he will torture his wife and daughter to such an extent that the whole family will "beg for death but won't get it".

"Even if I was at fault, why were my wife and daughter forced to commit suicide," Bansal asked in the note.

The suicide note, accessed by IANS, named besides DIG Sanjeev Gautam, Superintendent of Police Amrita Kaur, Deputy Superintendent of Police Rekha Sangwan, Investigating Officer Harnam Singh and an unnamed havaldar for "murdering my wife Satyabala, 57, and daughter Neha, 27".

The suicide note -- a copy of which was also widely circulated on Twitter -- cites DIG Gautam as claiming that he was "Amit Shah's man".

Two months ago, Bansal's wife Satyabala, 57, and daughter Neha, 27, committed suicide by hanging themselves from ceiling fans in their apartment on July 19 after Bansal was questioned by the CBI.

--IANS

vv/tsb/vt