The Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) on Wednesday sought response from the Chandigarh director general of police (DGP) on a plea filed by two dozen persons seeking directions to UT police to forward a no objection certificate (NOC) to the Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) for the withdrawals of three FIRs registered against the protesters during protests against repealed farm laws in 2020-2021.
The petitions stated the Centre while repealing the three farm laws, enacted in 2020 had agreed to withdraw all the criminal cases registered against farmers and other protesters and gave a direction on December 12 2021, delegating powers to the state governments to withdraw cases under section 321 of Code of Criminal Procedure.
The plea said various states including Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and others initiated withdrawal of cases and in June 2022 senior superintendent police, Chandigarh was approached with a request to withdraw three FIRs registered in Chandigarh in 2020 and 2022. Two FIRs registered at Sector-34 police station and one registered at Sector-49 police station.
Following representation from the petitioners, the local police had opined that they had no objection to withdrawal of these FIRs. But the same has not been communicated to the Centre by Chandigarh police despite repeated follow ups and a delay of over 2.5 years, the plea claimed. The petition sought withdrawal of the FIRs and a stay on the proceedings of these three FIRs. The court has sought response by August 18.
The Centre ushered in the new farm laws- The Farmers (Empowerment & Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act 2020, The Farmers Produce Trade & Commerce (Promotion & Facilitation) Act 2020 and The Essential Commodities Act 2020 in 2020 and were passed by the Parliament. There were widespread protests in the country by farmers as they felt laws being contrary to the interests of the farmer community in India. Thousands of farmers remained camped at the Delhi border for months together. It was on December 1, 2021, that the Centre repealed the new laws.
{{/usCountry}}The Centre ushered in the new farm laws- The Farmers (Empowerment & Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act 2020, The Farmers Produce Trade & Commerce (Promotion & Facilitation) Act 2020 and The Essential Commodities Act 2020 in 2020 and were passed by the Parliament. There were widespread protests in the country by farmers as they felt laws being contrary to the interests of the farmer community in India. Thousands of farmers remained camped at the Delhi border for months together. It was on December 1, 2021, that the Centre repealed the new laws.
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