Four Days After Death, Punjab Dalit Man Who was Forced to Drink Urine Cremated in Sangrur

Sangrur: The mortal remains of a Dalit man, who was forced to drink urine and died after being mercilessly thrashed, were consigned to flames four days after his death on Tuesday at his native village of Changaliwala in Punjab's Sangrur district.

Earlier in the day, the post-mortem of 37-year-old Jagmel Singh was conducted at the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh.

Jagmel Singh had succumbed to his injuries on Saturday morning at the PGIMER. His legs had to be amputated by doctors because of infection, officials said.

After the post-mortem, the body was taken to Singh's native village in Sangrur where a large number of people including local political leaders assembled to pay their last respects.

Punjab minister Vijay Inder Singla and former Punjab Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal were also present.

The funeral pyre was lit by Jagmel Singh's minor son.

On Monday, Jagmel Singh's family had ended their protest 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 had 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.

The family of Jagmel Singh had, earlier, refused both — to take his body and allow postmortem — till their demand of Rs 50 lakh compensation and a government job for his wife were met.

On October 21, the victim, who was a resident of Changaliwala village, had entered into an altercation with Rinku and some other people over some issue. The matter was resolved with the intervention of villagers, the police said.

Jagmel Singh later told the police that Rinku called him to his house on November 7 to talk about the issue. He had alleged that he was thrashed by four people with a stick and an iron rod after being tied to a pillar, and was forced to drink urine when he asked for water.

The police had said that the accused had claimed that the victim was abusing them. Rinku, Amarjit, Yadwinder and Binder were arrested on charges of abduction, wrongful confinement, and other sections of the Indian Penal Code, and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes Act at the Lehra police station, the police said.