NEW DELHI, Dec 25:
A 47-year-old Delhi Police constable, who was injured during violent protests at India Gate on Sunday against gang-rape incident, died today after battling for life in a city hospital following which police invoked murder charges in the case.
Subhash Chand Tomar, a graduate in Arts who hailed from Meerut, was cremated at Nigambodh Ghat with police honours in the presence of Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, Minister of State for Home Affairs R P N Singh, Home Secretary R K Singh as well as officers and men of Delhi Police.
President Pranab Mukherjee expressed grief over the death of the constable. “I convey my heartfelt condolence at the loss of a young life who lost his life in the call of duty. I share the agony of the family of the deceased,” he said.
Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar announced that they will give a job on compassionate grounds to one of the children of Tomar chosen by his widow. Also, all personnel will contribute one day’s salary to his family.
“With deep regret, we have to inform you that Constable Subhash Chand Tomar succumbed to his injuries at 6:40 AM today. He suffered internal injuries in his stomach, chest and neck,” Kumar said.
Tomar was posted in Karawal Nagar area and was called for maintaining law and order at India Gate area during the protests on Sunday over the gang-rape of a 23-year-old girl on December 16 here.
Tomar, who joined the police in 1987, was found lying injured on Tilak Marg and was rushed to the hospital.
Police had already arrested eight persons, including an activist of Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party, earlier and charged them with murder in connection with the injuries caused to Tomar.
One of the accused is a member of Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party. Kejriwal alleged police had wrongly implicated eight persons in the case and that there was no evidence of their involvement.
Kumar said the constable’s family will receive Rs 10 lakh as exgratia, Rs five lakh insurance, Rs three lakh from Delhi Police Welfare Fund and other benefits.
He also said people can contribute money through cheques to the family.
Blaming the protesters for Tomar’s death, his son Deepak alleged that protesters brutally beat up his father.
“The public is responsible for this because they beat him up so badly. Can they return my father?” he said.
Tomar’s brother Yudhveer Singh also echoed similar views and said, “What was his fault? He was only doing his job and now he is no more.”
The policeman’s another brother Devinder Singh said, “His family has no other source of income. He was very committed to his duty.”
Another brother Surinder Singh blamed the Government and protesters. “Whatever has happened is very sad. My brother was just doing his duty. He was working on the orders from his senior officers.
Meanwhile, the 23-year-old gang-rape victim’s condition was a “shade better than yesterday” as her vital parameters have shown marginal improvement, but she is still critical and continues to be on ventilator support.
Doctors at the Safdarjung Hospital, who have been closely monitoring the girl’s health, said she is psychologically “stable, conscious and meaningfully communicative”.
The victim was gang-raped and brutally assaulted on December 16 in a moving bus and thrown out. Six persons have been arrested in connection with the incident.
“The girl’s platelet count and total lycolyte count have improved when compared to yesterday. And this improvement is after pumping in of blood, platelets and plasma. The real improvement would be when her body starts producing all these,” Dr Sunil Jain, general surgeon of the hospital, said.
He said the girl’s liver functions and lab profile are by and large fine, though she is running a fever of 102 degrees to 103 degrees.
Dr P K Verma, ICU incharge, said the girl’s condition was a “shade better than yesterday” and that she was talking to her relatives since morning.
He also said the level of internal bleeding has been controlled to a considerable extent while the increase in the level of bilirubin, the yellow breakdown product of normal heme catabolism, which stood at 7.3 today is a “serious cause of concern”.
Sepsis, a severe blood infection that can lead to organ failure, is the cause for internal bleeding, but doctors say the examination of blood cultures have established that they are on the “right track”.
Verma said she continues to be on ventilator support though it has been reduced a little. “She has got sepsis. She still needs partial support. The drains which we gave has drained well,” he said.
The platelet count has increased to 81,000 from yesterday’s 70,000. A normal platelet count in a healthy individual is between 150,000 and 450,000 per micro litres of blood.
The girl was subjected to psychiatric counselling this morning along with her parents. Dr Rastogi of the Psychology Department said despite her fragile body condition, the girl is “stable, conscious and meaningfully communicative”
“She is very positive about her future. She has got the fighting spirit. She is coping well,” he said.
Delhi Police today virtually hit back at Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit for accusing the force of “interference” while recording the statement of the 23- year-old rape victim on a day a constable succumbed to his injuries sustained during Sunday’s violent protests.
Police’s strong response came a day after Dikshit shot off a letter to Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde citing a communication to her by Deputy Commissioner (East) B M Mishra that Sub Divisional Magistrate Usha Chaturvedi had complained about senior police officials’ interference while she was recording the statement of the victim.
Denying the allegations, City Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar said police never forced any questionnaire on the SDM. The SDM had complained that police had told her to ask the victim only from the questionnaire the investigators had prepared.
“It was the police which had insisted that the statement of the girl be recorded as her condition was getting worse with every passing day…Chaturvedi was assigned the job by the Divisional Commissioner,” he said.
The SDM could have refused to record the statement if at any point she had felt pressure from the police, he said.
As soon as Dikshit complained to Home Minister yesterday, police immediately sought recording of victim’s statement before a Metropolitan Magistrate, which have more legal value.
“The victim recorded the statement before a judicial magistrate today. This has more evidentiary value,” he said.
Delhi Police this evening eased restrictions near India Gate and Raisina Hill leading to Rashtrapati Bhavan even as small protests were held at Jantar Mantar demanding stringent punishment for those involved in the gangrape and brutal assault of the girl in a moving bus in south Delhi on December 16.
Earlier, Delhi Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat said the force would demand a high-level probe into the “leakage” of Chief Minister’s top secret letter to the Home Minister and how it made to media.
Dikshit has been making a strong pitch of bringing the city police under Delhi Government from Home Ministry’s control.
Ever since the public outrage over the incident, the Chief Minister has made it clear that she cannot be held responsible for actions of police, which is not under her Government’s control.
Police has made known its unhappiness over Dikshit passing on the buck and raking up a “non-issue” at this juncture by writing to Shinde.
Kumar said, “the statement of the rape victim and her mother was recorded. So if the SDM had felt that something was wrong, then why did she record the statement.
“The statement was recorded on December 21 and why after so long on December 24, a complaint came out. And even if the complaint has been filed, then the side of the police should have also been heard. It is unfortunate. Such kind of things affects police investigation. Also the contents have been made known to media also,” he said.
Kumar also claimed that they had encountered problems with Chaturvedi earlier on two occasions this year while dealing with cases of two rioting cases in east Delhi.
Rejecting claims that police prevented the videography of the process, he said girl’s mother had objected to it as she thought they were media persons as also doctors who felt that presence of more people may lead to infection.
Providing the sequence of events, Kumar said at one stage, they felt that the girl may not pull through and police wanted a statement since only an SDM can record a dying declaration.
“ACP (Vasant Vihar) approached Deputy Commissioner of New Delhi Neela Mohanan for an SDM but she asked him to approach Divisional Commissioner as she did not have any woman SDM under her jurisdiction. Then Divisional Commissioner Dharampal assigned Chaturvedi for the job,” he said.
Chaturvedi asked Assistant Commissioner to meet her near PHQ on December 21 at 6 pm initially but later preponed by an hour saying she had orders to record the statement as fast as possible.
“She said she wanted to know the facts of the case and was taken to Vasant Vihar police station where she was briefed about the case and then she was taken to hospital where she recorded the statement,” Kumar said.
“She was only supposed to record the statement but not probe the matter,” he said.
The Chief Minister was “very upset” over the contents of the letter sent by the Deputy Commissioner and decided to write to Shinde seeking a thorough probe into the incident, Delhi Government sources said.
Home Ministry sources said they are likely to order a probe into the Chief Minister’s complaint. “We are taking the complaint very seriously,” a senior Ministry official said.
Meanwhile, a former judge of the Delhi High Court is likely to head the panel to review responses to the December 16 gang-rape incident and suggest measures to improve the safety and security of women in the capital.
Highly-placed sources in the Government said retired judge of the Delhi High Court, Justice Usha Mehra, will look at the security aspect and probe whether the incident could have been prevented.
“A notification in this regard is likely to come out soon,” the sources told here.
Last week, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde had said the Government will set up a Commission of Inquiry under the Commissions of Inquiry Act 1952 to review responses to the crime and to suggest measures to improve the safety and security of women in the capital.
The sources said earlier the Government had wanted the Justice Verma Committee to club the investigation of the incident with its mandate to recommend changes in laws relating to crime against women.
But when the Verma Committee expressed reservations in clubbing the two responsibilities, government decided to set up a fresh panel to look specifically into the gang-rape incident and related issues.
The committee headed by former Chief Justice of India J S Verma has been mandated to submit its recommendations to the Government in the next 30 days.
The Congress Core Group today reviewed the situation in the Capital in the wake of protests over the gang-rape incident emphasising that police should deal with the matter with sensitivity while there should be no room for violence.
The two-and-a-half hour long meeting at Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s residence was attended by Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Defence Minister A K Antony, Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Gandhi’s Political Secretary Ahmed Patel.
Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath were special invitees.
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