Delhi: Man who set self on fire near Parliament succumbs to injuries

A 26-year-old man from Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh who set himself on fire near Parliament on Wednesday succumbed to his injuries on Friday, police said. Before his death, the man had told Delhi Police that he took the extreme step because he was under pressure due to three police cases registered against him in Baghpat.

On Friday, the man’s family lodged a complaint at the Parliament Street police station and demanded action against four people who had allegedly harrassed him for more than three years — the cases against the victim were registered based on complaints from the four. The victim’s 60-year-old father, in his complaint on Friday, named the four people and alleged that they had used casteist slurs against the victim and his family last month.

Police said they are looking into the family’s complaint and have called an ACP-level officer from Baghpat to Delhi to help with their investigation. “We are looking into the complaint and have also asked the Uttar Pradesh police to independently investigate the charges against the four people and their own personnel in connection with the three criminal cases against the deceased. We will lodge a first information report after verification,” said a senior police officer on condition of anonymity.

The victim came to Delhi from Baghpat in a train on Wednesday afternoon. He went to Rail Bhawan park, poured petrol over himself, set himself ablaze and collapsed on the road, suffering 95% burn injuries. Police rushed him to RML Hospital for treatment, where he died on Friday morning. On Thursday, the man had told police that he came to Delhi with the intention to die by suicide, and had brought the bottle of petrol with him from Baghpat. However, he had told his family in Baghpat that he was going to Delhi to get legal assistance from the Supreme Court in the cases lodged against him.

Police said that the three cases against the victim were registered in 2021, 2022 and 2024.

“For three-four years, the victim was in a dispute with a group of people and three cases were lodged against him. We found a note in his possession which alleged that the Baghpat police had not probed the cases properly,” said special commissioner of police (law and order) Madhup Tiwari.

The victim had dropped out of a law college and worked as a labourer. He is survived by his parents and three siblings. The victim’s father told HT that in 2021, he and his family were assaulted in their house by a group of four villagers, including a husband-wife couple, over an old personal enmity. The victim’s 21-year-old cousin told HT that the dispute between their family and the four people began over “a petty water supply issue.” The cousin added that the police didn’t heed their complaints because they are from a lower caste.

In his complaint on Friday, the victim’s father said, “They (the four people) would come to our house and hit my wife…In 2021, after they attacked my wife, the police lodged a case against us. My sons (including the victim) went to jail for one-and-a-half months based on a false complaint. They didn’t end the harassment there…They tried to run me over with their car last year. Last month, they threatened to kill my son (the victim) and shouted casteist slurs against us…”

“The dispute began over a petty water supply issue. But it was always my uncle and cousin who would be made ‘accused’ in cases since those four people are from an upper caste. In 2022 they tried to kill my cousin but the police booked him in an assault case. How is this fair? They kept threatening us to withdraw our complaints as well. We want justice now. Bhaiya didn’t deserve this…” the victim’s cousin told HT.