A judicial inquiry has been initiated following the suicide of a 30-year-old man in a police lockup in Punjab's Fatehgarh Sahib district, which triggered protests and allegations of gross negligence against the police.
Incident Details
Davinder Singh, a resident of Majri Kishne Wali, died on Saturday evening at the Amloh police station. Relatives have raised questions about how the death could occur undetected in a facility equipped with 24-hour CCTV surveillance.
Arrested on May 7 for cable theft, Singh was serving a three-day judicial remand when he allegedly used a torn police blanket to hang himself from a bathroom tap. Amloh Station House Officer (SHO) Taranjit Singh stated that the duty officer had stepped out of the monitoring room for "a few minutes." However, sources indicate that the station was severely understaffed at the time because authorities had diverted personnel for VIP security duties.
Background of the Deceased
Police described Davinder Singh as a habitual offender with nine pending cases related to theft and narcotics. Having secured bail only two weeks earlier, he was reportedly in a fragile mental state. SHO Taranjit Singh noted, "The village panchayat had pledged not to help drug offenders secure bail. This left Davinder worried that he would not be released again."
Demands for Accountability
Davinder's family, including his mother, wife, and minor son, staged a protest outside the station. While police showed the family CCTV footage of the incident, the relatives remain unconvinced. "How did no one see this happening in real-time?" the family asked, demanding to know why the duty officer failed to intervene.
A judicial magistrate has seized the lockup's CCTV footage and station records. The inquiry will determine whether mandatory health and mental screenings were conducted upon admission, what the timeline of the monitoring lapse was, and if staffing shortages compromised prisoner safety.
