Updated: December 24, 2020 8:37:13 am
Black flags displayed as Haryana CM’s convoy passes Agrasen Chowk in Ambala on Tuesday. (Express Photo by A. Aggarwal)
HARYANA POLICE has detained 13 farmers, who had waved black flags at Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s convoy in Ambala while protesting against agricultural laws on Tuesday, on various charges including attempted murder and rioting.
The FIR was filed Tuesday night under nine sections of the IPC, including 307 (attempted assassination) and the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act of 1984.
The farmers said that “false cases are being brought against them to suppress their voice.”
According to the FIR, the protesters have been accused of “obstructing their duty, pushing and shoving and attempting to assassinate” and blocking the parade. The FIR has come forward on the complaint of a policeman, Gurjant Singh.
Large numbers of farmers had gathered in Ambala ahead of Khattar’s public meetings on Tuesday. The FIR says: “Kisan’s union has launched an agitation against three agricultural laws of the central government. Also today, the leaders of the kisan union and a large number of people had gathered in Anaj Mandi, Ambala City. We have come to know through secret sources that they may cause harm to the honorable Chief Minister and other dignitaries. The policemen on duty through the loudspeaker said that they can carry out their protest against the laws but peacefully … but despite that they arrived at Agrasen Chowk from Anaj Mandi with black flags in their hands … At 12.30, when the parade from CM reached Agrasen Chowk, stopped on the way to the warning and pilot vehicles and caused damage to these vehicles with his sticks. When the police administration was starting the parade by diverting its route, these rioters and others stopped the road and attacked the policemen ”.
Bhartiya Kisan Union Ambala District President Malkit Singh has criticized the Khattar government for filing FIR against farmers. “The peasants had just gone to make a protest not to kill anyone. Whenever any issue of farmer agitation comes up, the police do not make fewer charges than attempted murder against us. The attempted murder charges were even slapped for opening the roads that were blocked by the authorities during the farmers’ upheaval, ”Singh told The Indian Express.
“But the government cannot stifle the voice of farmers with such tactics. Sometimes they label the farmers as congressmen, while in another case, they say that the agitating farmers are associated with some other opposition party. But we are just farmers. We are setting up village boards so that only political leaders can enter villages who raise the voice of farmers. Anti-farmer leaders will not be allowed to enter the villages, ”he added.
In Fatehabad, farmers organized a large protest demanding the withdrawal of cases brought against the rioters in connection with their recent protest. After celebrating a ‘Kisan Panchayat’, the farmers marched to the local office BJP MLA BJP Dura Ram to urge it to withdraw the government support of the BJP-JJP. Before this, farmers even blocked the road for some time. Several farmers were booked in connection with their protest that took place against the BJP leaders, who were quickly watching the SYL channel issue recently. The farmers had accused the BJP leaders of using “tactics” to break the unity of the Punjab and Haryana farmers against three agricultural laws. The farmers’ protest had forced the BJP leaders to leave the site of the rapid.
© The Indian Express (P) Ltd
.
