HC orders judicial probe into farmer Shubh Karan’s death at Khanauri

The high court bench of acting chief justice GS Sandhawalia and justice Lapita Banerji observed that the probe cannot be entrusted solely either to Punjab or to Haryana for the “reasons obvious as both the states have several things to cover up.”

The Punjab and Haryana high court on Thursday ordered a judicial probe into the death of 21-year-old farmer Shubh Karan Singh during the agitation for legal guarantee of MSP at the Khanauri border on February 21.

Shubh Karan Singh who belonged to Balloh village in Bathinda district was cremated on February 29 after Punjab Police registered a zero FIR into his death.

The high court bench of acting chief justice GS Sandhawalia and justice Lapita Banerji observed that the probe cannot be entrusted solely either to Punjab or to Haryana for the “reasons obvious as both the states have several things to cover up.” It has set up a committee headed by justice (retd) Jaishree Thakur, of Punjab and Haryana high court, who would be assisted by ADGP, Punjab, Parmod Ban and ADGP, Haryana, Amitabh Singh Dhillon. The names of officers were given by the respective states.

The court was hearing a clutch of petitions — some seeking restraining orders on farmer’s “Delhi Chalo” march, others seeking removal of barricades and restrictions put in place by the governments for thwarting the march. A few more petitions were filed after the February 21 violence, including from Punjab Congress leader and leader of opposition, Partap Singh Bajwa, through former advocate general, APS Deol, seeking a probe into alleged violence by police against the farmers at the Shambhu and Khanauri borders and death of Shubh Karan Singh.

The committee has been asked to give a report as to which of the police authorities will have jurisdiction to investigate the death. This is being ordered since the place of occurrence and the death firstly has to be confirmed as “one state is shirking its responsibilities whereas the other is yearning to get its hands on the investigation”, it added.

The committee will ascertain the cause of death and from which type of weapon the bullet/pellet emanated, and further committee would examine the issue of whether the force which was used on February 21 was “commensurate with the situation”. The issue of compensation to be awarded due to death would also be worked on.

Both the states have been directed to provide all the facilities and security to the retired judge. The former judge would be paid ₹5 lakh remuneration for each month, to be shared by both the states. The committee has been asked to give its report in one month.

Earlier, the court questioned Punjab on the delay in initiating a probe into Shubh Karan’s death. Singh who belonged to Balloh village in Bathinda district was cremated on February 29 after Punjab Police registered a zero FIR into his death.

An attempt has been made by Punjab to wash its hands off from investigating into the matter, the court observed. “The lodging of the FIR at 22:45 hours a day before the hearing of the case would go on to show that the State of Punjab was dilly-dally on the same and only lodged the same once it was aware that the matter was coming up on the next day,” it added.

The court also took note of the Punjab police report that Singh died due to rubber bullets/pellets. However, the post-mortem report of the hospital records the presence of various “multiple metallic density foreign bodies” in his body.

Demanding a law on the minimum support price (MSP) for all crops, the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission’s formula, full debt waiver for farmers, pension for farmers and labourers, withdrawal of cases against farmers during the 2020-21 protest, hundreds of farmers are camping at Shambhu near Ambala and Khanauri border in Jind in response to the ‘Delhi Chalo’ agitation spearheaded by the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) and Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Sidhupur). They were stopped at these two places on February 13 and since then have been camping there. Four rounds of talks of farmer leaders with the Centre have failed.

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 the Khanauri border. Shubh Karan succumbed to his injuries at Government Rajindra Hospital in Patiala.