Tractor rally: More than 300 people were injured in Tuesday’s violence (Archive)
Lucknow:
A Uttar Pradesh farmer who died in the ITO area of Delhi while participating in Tuesday’s tractor rally that turned into violence and chaos, was not shot as claimed by some of his fellow protesters yesterday, UP police said today. Post-mortem examination of the 26-year-old man has confirmed that he died from injuries received in a tractor accident, police added.
“The post-mortem report clarifies that he was not shot. He died from the antemortem injuries he received after his tractor overturned as seen in a viral video,” Avinash Chandra, a senior UP police officer, was quoted as saying by the agency. news. AND ME.
CCTV footage of the incident released yesterday showed the man driving a blue tractor toward police barricades as seemingly agitated security personnel prepared for impact. The tractor at full speed, in an attempt to break the cordon, rammed the barricades and capsized.
While Delhi police had said yesterday that he died from injuries in the accident, some protesters claimed he was shot dead.
The man, identified as Navrit Singh from Rampur, about 180 km from the national capital, had recently returned to his hometown from Australia, where his wife is a student. He had joined the farmers’ protest against the three core farm laws on Tuesday. “We got together to participate in the parade, but we never knew what would happen,” a neighbor told the PTI news agency.
The tractor demonstration was called by a coordinating body of 40 farmers’ unions to press for their demand for the repeal of the three laws. The demonstration, as agreed by the unions, was to start at around 11:30 am and pass through the outskirts of Delhi. However, thousands of farmers in tractors and other vehicles had started entering the national capital via unplanned routes at 8 a.m., breaking down barricades and clashing with police.
The farmers, who had been trying to reach the iconic Red Fort in central Delhi, were stopped by the police at ITO.
By noon, hundreds of protesters had arrived at the Red Fort. A protester also hoisted a religious flag on a flagpole on the monument’s walls, sparking outrage.
More than 300 people were injured in Tuesday’s violence and 22 cases have been recorded, police said today.
The peasant unions distanced themselves from the violence and alleged a conspiracy to “torpedo” their peaceful movement.
With contributions from agencies
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