The family of a Dalit man, who was forced to drink urine and died after being mercilessly thrashed, ended its protest on Monday after the Punjab Government offered Rs 20 lakh compensation, a Government job to his wife and free education to his three children.
The State Government also announced a probe into the case by an additional director general of police rank officer, besides ensuring filling of challan against the four accused in court within seven days, an official spokesperson said in a release. The ADGP has also been mandated to probe lapses by officers, if any, to fix accountability. All efforts would be made to ensure stringent punishment for the culprits within three months, the spokesperson said.
Director General of Police Dinkar Gupta deputed Additional Director General of Police Gurpreet Deo to undertake the inquiry and submit a list of recommendations to prevent unfortunate delays in the future in filing the case.
The DGP said the inquiry officer’s responsibility should also be fixed to initiate disciplinary proceedings against the erring officers. Sandeep Sandhu, the political secretary to Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, said a compensation of Rs 20 lakh, including Rs 8.25 lakh under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, will be given to the next of kin of the 37-year-old man who was killed earlier this month.