The “Dilli Chalo” campaign came to a standstill and turned ugly after the death of a 22-year-old farmer in action by the Haryana Police at Khanauri. Over 100 protesters were injured, according to media reports.
Subhkaran Singh (21), hailing from Bathinda district, died at Khanauri on the Sangrur-Jind border and about 12 police personnel were injured in clashes at Punjab-Haryana border this week. The incident took place when some protesting farmers were trying to head towards barricades.
Police fired tear gas shells at the two border points multiple times to disperse groups of protesters when they attempted to move towards the layers of barricades stalling their march to the national capital.
Thousands of farmers remain camped at Khanauri and Shambhu with their tractor-trolleys and trucks agitating for their demands, including a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP) for crops and farm debt waiver.
The Punjab farmers are also demanding the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations, pension for farmers and farm labourers, no hike in electricity tariff, withdrawal of police cases and “justice” for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence, reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, and compensation to the families of the farmers who died during a previous agitation in 2020-21.
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), which spearheaded an agitation in 2020-21 against three farm laws that have since been repealed, on Thursday demanded registration of a murder case against Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar and state Home Minister Anil Vij for the death of a protesting farmer at the Khanauri border point of Punjab-Haryana.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said he was saddened by the farmer’s death and asserted that stringent action would be taken against those responsible for it.
“After the postmortem, a case will be registered. The officials responsible for his death will have to face stringent action,” Mann had said.
