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Farmers’ protest: Panel probing Shubh Karan’s death seeks six weeks for interim report
In a communication to Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) on Wednesday, the panel presided over by justice Jaishree Thakur (retd) stated that for examining the death of the farmer and establishing whether force used was commensurate to the situation, more time would be required as evidence will have to be collected and detailed investigation would have to be done
The committee probing the death of Shubh Karan Singh, a 21-year-old farm protester during the agitation for legal guarantee of MSP at Khanauri border on February 21, has sought six weeks’ time for an interim report and six months for completion of the probe.
In a communication to Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) on Wednesday, the panel presided over by justice Jaishree Thakur (retd) stated that for examining the death of the farmer and establishing whether force used was commensurate to the situation, more time would be required as evidence will have to be collected and detailed investigation would have to be done. Thus, the committee be given six weeks for interim report regarding the place of death and six months for the final report.
In view of this, the HC has deferred hearing in the matter for May 28.
On March 7, the HC had ordered a judicial probe into the death of Shubh Karan Singh. The panel, headed by justice Thakur, is being assisted by ADGP, Punjab, Parmod Ban and ADGP, Haryana, Amitabh Singh Dhillon.
The judicial probe was ordered while hearing a clutch of petitions—some seeking restraint orders on farmers’ “Delhi Chalo” march, others seeking removal of barricades and restrictions put in place by the governments for thwarting the march.
The Haryana government had moved the Supreme Court against the HC order but in the hearing on April 1, failed to get a stay order against the constitution of the panel. The matter is listed for hearing in SC on April 19.
Demanding a law on the minimum support price (MSP) for all crops, the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission’s formula, among others demands, hundreds of farmers are camping at Shambhu barrier near Ambala and Khanauri barrier in Jind in response to the Delhi Chalo agitation spearheaded by the Punjab Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) and Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Sidhupur). The farmers were stopped at these two places on February 13 and since then, they are camping there.
Violence broke out on February 21 at both the protest sites as farmers unsuccessfully tried to break the barricades and march towards Delhi. Scores of security personnel and protesters had suffered injuries at Khanauri border. Shubhkaran Singh succumbed to his injuries at Government Rajindra Hospital in Patiala.
