Man records video, hangs self from tree

SUICIDE 38yearold alleges harassment by three for being a Dalit, hunt on for accused

The victim’s brother told us that when they reached the village, Vijay was still alive. So, they rushed him to the hospital. The victim’s brother was too depressed to give a statement earlier.

A 38-year-old man recorded a video of him committing suicide on Sunday after alleging that he was being harassed by three men for ‘being a Dalit’.

Police said the deceased, identified as Vijay, a resident of Delhi’s Harewali village near Bawana, hanged himself from a tree in Sonepat’s Tewari village. Investigators have seized the video clip from Vijay’s phone and registered an FIR on Tuesday on his brother’s statement.

In the video, uploaded on Youtube, Vijay accused three men from his village — Vijay, Sachin and Chhote — for harassing him for money and passing vulgar comments at him for being a Dalit.

Vijay in the video states that he was depressed from the last one month after the three men had slapped him publically.

“I don’t feel like showing my face to anyone after the incident,” he says, adding that the men were pressurising him to change his name because he was from a ‘lower caste.’

Ganaur SHO inspector Devender said that the victim had come to the area in his tempo traveller and used a rope to hang himself from a tree. He shot a video blaming the three men for his extreme step, sent it to his family, uploaded it on Youtube and then hanged himself. The family members rushed to the spot after receiving the video and found him hanging from the tree. They brought him down and rushed him to a hospital where he was declared dead, the inspector said.

“The victim’s brother told us that when they reached the village , Vijay was still alive. So, they rushed him to a hospital. The victim’s brother was too depressed to give a statement earlier. Today, after his statement, we have registered a case against the three accused under section 306 (abetment to suicide), 34 (crime with common intention) of the IPC and SC/ST (prevention of atrocities) Act. An investigation in the in the matter has been launched,” he said.

Preliminary investigation has revealed that Vijay took the extreme step following an argument he had with two of the accused, Vijay and Sachin, who allegedly slapped and threatened him, first on Sunday night and then again on Monday morning. In both the incidents, Vijay had called the Delhi police control room but because of the intervention of his family members and locals, no case was registered.

Senior police officers claimed that Vijay’s family members had filed a plea saying that they did not want to pursue a case and file an FIR initially.

Later in the day, Vijay left home in his tempo, reached Sonepat and allegedly hanged himself from a tree after recording his ordeal in a mobile video.

The suicide happened a day after another Sonepat resident left a note and live streamed his suicide on his Facebook page.

The victim in this case blamed three Delhi policemen of harassing him. All the three cops have been suspended and are absconding.