Woman police officer suspended in a suicide case

A woman police officer was on Friday placed under suspension and a probe was ordered by the Punjab government following a teenage college student's suicide in Jalandhar a day ago.

Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal Friday asked Inspector General Jalandhar zone Gurpreet Deo to conduct a thorough inquiry into the circumstances leading to the suicide of a young girl Shivali, an under-graduate student at the S.D. College in Jalandhar. The report of the inquiry has been sought within three days.

Shivali committed suicide by jumping before a train near Domoria bridge in Jalandhar city, 150 km from here, after she was stopped and questioned by a police team when she was going in a car with her boyfriend.

The police team, led by woman inspector Balwinder Kaur, forced the boy and girl out of the car and questioned them. 

The boy was made to do squats on the road as the police team got down to moral policing. The girl had objected to their harassment and also to their photographs being taken by the local media persons.

When the police and the media persons did not stop - despite her pleas, Shivali went to the nearby railway tracks and lay under an oncoming train. She died on the spot.

Punjab's home secretary D.S. Bains, on the basis of a preliminary enquiry,on Friday placed inspector Balwinder Kaur under suspension.

Witnesses said the girl was humiliated by the police team in full media glare.

According to police sources, the girl pleaded with police personnel and the media not to involve her in the matter and let her go but they did not listen to her. She had even allegedly threatened to commit suicide if her photographs were taken.