R'than: Father of Dalit man beaten to death 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.

Ratiram Jatav (60), father of Harish, committed suicide by consuming some poisonous substance on Thursday, they said.

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

Ratiram's 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 had been booked under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the investigation is still going on.

Blaming the state 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 have not been arrested even after a month of Harish's death," Punia said at a press conference.

"It seems that protection of Dalits and 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 added section 302 (murder) of the IPC in the FIR only after the local leaders protested.

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

Harish had sustained critical head injuries on July 16 after he was allegedly beaten up by the neighbours of the woman who was hit by his motorcycle.

He was rushed to Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi where he died 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 (murder) of the IPC were also added.