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Dalit boy accused of stealing pigeon dies in police custody

Sonipat (Haryana) - Two cops booked; Khattar claims he committed suicide.

Two assistant sub-inspectors were on Friday booked in connection with a Dalit boy's death allegedly in police custody in Devipura village here even as his family claimed that police had demanded money for his release.
Post-mortem showed the 15-year-old boy, Govind, had died of hanging, a doctor said, a day after the teenager, who was taken to police station after being accused of pigeon theft, was found dead near his house under suspicious circumstances.
ASIs Subash and Anil have been booked under various sections of IPC, Deputy Superintendent of Police Venod Kumar said, with elaborating. The two policemen have been suspended. However, no arrests have been made so far.
Some members of the 'Gadia lohar' community had on Wednesday approached the Sonipat police charging the boy with the theft of a pigeon and demanded appropriate action against him, police said.
Govind's family, which staged a protest, here alleged that police took the boy to police station on the pretext of complaint of theft. They alleged police officials demanded Rs15,000 to release him. When the family members went to police station with money, they were told that he had been released and he might have committed suicide.
The family members alleged that the boy was brutally beaten.
Police claimed there was a mark around his neck. Doctors, who conducted the postmortem, said that there was no injury mark on the body.
"He died due to hanging," one of the doctors said. In the victim's native Devipura village, his elder brother Gautam said that police demanded money for the release of my brother. "We found the body in our uncle's house adjacent to ours in the village the next day after police picked him (the boy) up on Wednesday," Gautam said. Gautam demanded a compensation of Rs1,000,000 from the government.Haryana's Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has claimed the 15-year-old Dalit boy had committed suicide and announced that a job will be given to a family member, apart from compensation.
"Whosoever is responsible will not be spared and strict action will be taken," he said while addressing media here after the 15-year-old victim's family alleged that he was beaten up by police and died in custody after being accused of pigeon theft. "There was no questioning (of minor boy). He himself went to the police station. One family went with the complaint where matter was resolved. After the matter was resolved, they went to their house and during night suicide took place, as per unofficial information," he said as his government came under attack over the incident and the recent killing of two Dalit children in Sunped, Faridabad.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Friday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Haryana of being "insensitive" towards Dalits and termed as shameful the killing of two children who were burnt alive three days ago.
"It clearly indicates that BJP is not at all concerned or sensitive towards Dalits," she said at a Press conference here. Describing the killing of two Dalit children in Faridabad in Haryana as "shameful", Mayawati said, "It shows insensitivity of the Haryana government."