This is the sad story of a 28-year old youth from Mulund, Mumbai, named Kapil Patil, who committed suicide because of police harassment and then committed suicide after sending a suicide note to his family by courier, reports Mumbai Mirror.
Three days after Kapil Patil committed suicide, a courier boy rang his doorbell in Mulund and handed over an envelope to his family. Inside, written in Marathi on a page torn from a notebook, was a suicide note addressed to his mother.
“Mother, I swear I did not do anything but nobody heard me out. I have never molested any girl in my entire life,” Patil had written before heading to the railway tracks to kill himself.
“His mother still thinks he will come back. When she saw the letter, she was completely shattered,” said Raju Vichare, Kapil's childhood friend and a resident of Ram Ashish Society where Kapil used to stay.
His family had alleged police harassment as the reason for the suicide. The drama had started on wee hours of Saturday morning, when Kapil was arrested for allegedly walking into a house and molesting a 13-year-old.
He was taken to Navghar Police Station and booked under Section 354 of Indian Penal Code. “He kept telling the cops that his family should be told about his arrest, but they did not let him make any calls nor did they inform the family,” Vichare said.
As per law, the police must inform the family of the accused about the arrest. A notice to this effect is displayed at the entrance of all police stations.
Let alone allowing him to contact his family, the police did not even allow him to receive the 18 calls that Kapil's sister made on his cellphone while he was in custody. Kapil's sister, Reshma Pradeep Savle, also sent four test messages asking where he was and if he was okay.
Realising that the police would not let him go, Kapil – who had not been put in the lock-up despite being arrested – took his chances and escaped from the police station at around 5.30 am on Saturday morning.
Finally, Kapil's family heard from the police the following morning. “We were told that he had escaped. We just didn't know what to make out of it as we didn't even know he had been arrested. He was a nice boy who never got into any trouble,” said Chaitram Patil, Kapil's father.
Hours later, Kapil called his family and was convinced by them to return to the police station. He went back and surrendered, and was sent home after being granted bail. Two hours later, however, the cops came back to arrest him for escaping from police custody under Section 224 of IPC.
This time, Kapil was locked him up for the night. It was only on the following day that he was again granted bail by Bhoiwada court. “After returning home, he was very aloof. At around 4 pm, he stepped out saying that he wanted to get his beard shaved. He never came back home,” said his father.
At 2 am on Monday, the family heard that he had committed suicide on the railway tracks.
“This letter proves beyond doubt that our son was innocent and framed for a crime he did not commit. As if booking him wasn't enough, the cops did not allow him to get in touch with us. That must have broken him. The police arrested him again after he surrendered. Our son was a sincere boy. The humiliation was too much for him to handle,” said his father.
And now listen to what Navghar police, on their part, are saying. It is classic bureaucratese.
“He ran away from our custody when he was booked the first time. Since he ran away, we had to book him for the second offence. After he got bail, he went and committed suicide. How can we be blamed for it?” asked Shrimant Ghule, Senior Inspector of Navghar Police Station.
He was quick to add, however, that action would be initiated against the cops who had arrested him but hadn't put him in the lock-up, because of which he ran away.
“I am forwarding a default report as we speak for immediate action against the cops who were on duty at the police station,” said Ghule, adding that he was unaware of the note. End of story.
