Ram Singh, one of the six accused of fatally raping a 23-year-old Delhi girl, is said to have committed suicide when he was found hanging in his cell in the Tihar Jail today early morning.
Though the authorities have branded it as suicide, they have refused to provide any details, asking to wait until the inquiry is over. However Ram Singh’s family has called it ‘foul play’ and said he was being tortured in the jail, according to AFP.
“He could not have hanged himself with one hand. He had injured his hand in an accident few years back,” Singh’s father told AFP.
"My son couldn't have committed suicide with just one hand : Ram Singh's father." How was he able to commit crime with just one hand?
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Singh along with the other accused was said to have been on ‘suicide watch’ and his successful attempt in hanging himself with a makeshift rope is said to be a security lapse on part of the officials.
“It is a major lapse in security, certainly it is not a small incident. Action will be taken,” Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde told a press conference in the capital.
“We don’t understand how could the police fail to protect Ram Singh. They knew he was the prime accused in my daughter’s case,” the father of the victim who can’t be named for legal reasons, told AFP.
“How could they let him choose the way he wanted to die? The police have failed and I wonder what will happen to the case now.”
However, a senior police officer who wished to remain anonymous told AFP that his death won’t have any affect on the ongoing trial.
Ram Singh’s suicide has sparked debates ranging from security failure at a ‘high-secure’ prison, to future of the trial and whether the victim’s family was robbed of justice or was his death justified irrespective of the means.
Main Image: Nilroy via Wikimedia Commons.
