Chandigarh: Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition and Congress MP Shri Rahul Gandhi on October 14, 2025, visited the residence of deceased Dalit IPS officer Y. Puran Kumar in Chandigarh to offer condolences to his wife and daughters.

Shri Rahul Gandhi, who paid floral tributes to Kumar and spoke to his family members, demanded immediate arrest of all those erring officials who were mentioned in the officer’s suicide note. He also said that Kumar’s reputation and career were “systematically destroyed”, and even after his death, the senior IPS officer’s family was under immense pressure.

Kumar’s eight-page typed and signed suicide note – that was recovered following his death, allegedly by suicide, on October 7 at his residence in Chandigarh – had repeated references to ‘caste discrimination’, ‘mental harassment’, ‘public humiliation’ and ‘atrocities’.

Later, addressing the media, Shri Rahul Gandhi urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini to take immediate action against those accused. He warned against politicising the situation and said it’s time to “end this drama and give justice to the family.”

Shri Rahul Gandhi added that the issue was not just about one family. He said that a wrong message has gone to Dalits in the country. “And what is that message? No matter how successful you are, no matter how intelligent you are but you can be suppressed, you can be crushed, you can be thrown away. This is not acceptable to us,” said Shri Rahul Gandhi after meeting the family of Kumar.

“Look, the family is giving a simple message. We want respect. You disrespected our husband. You tried to end his career. He committed suicide. After his death, give him respect, and if you don’t give respect, that is not acceptable to us,” he added.

He then went on to add that this is not just about the respect of one family. This is about the respect of every Dalit brother and sister in India, he said. He was accompanied by Haryana Congress leaders including Shri Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Kumari Selja and Shri Rao Narender Singh.