Two days after minor’s suicide, Chandigarh cop suspended on allegations of assault

Two days after a Class 11 student allegedly died by suicide in Zirakpur following a cybercrime inquiry, the Chandigarh Police suspended ASI Gurdev Singh over allegations of physical assault during questioning.

As per orders issued by SP (Cyber) Geetanjali Khandelwal, the ASI has been transferred to Police Lines, Sector 26.

A probe revealed procedural lapses in handling the minor’s case. The ASI was in uniform while questioning the minors, and the inquiry was conducted without the involvement of any child rights body.

The incident stems from a December 9, 2024, complaint filed by a Chandigarh-based government school principal regarding a fake Instagram account used to post offensive content against teachers. The page contained abusive and obscene content, including doctored images of teachers with derogatory comments.

Following an inquiry, the IP address linked to the fake page was traced to the father of one of the students. On being summoned, the father, along with his son, and another individual along with his son, presented themselves at the station. They stated that another child was also involved in creating the account.

Subsequently, the ASI contacted the mother of the third child, who later visited the cyber crime cell. During this visit, he was subjected to harassment by police during questioning, which drove him to suicide on March 23, his family alleged.

Despite the police denying these allegations, citing that the students were questioned in a common hall in the presence of teachers, the principal and parents, protests by the victim’s family prompted Chandigarh Police to suspend the ASI. Following his suspension, the family finally cremated the body on Tuesday.