How long will farmers’ blockade continue: HC to Punjab, Haryana

Demanding a law on the minimum support price for all crops and implementation of the Swaminathan Commission’s formula, hundreds of farmers are camping at Shambhu barrier near Ambala and Khanauri barrier in Jind in response to the Delhi Chalo agitation of farmers’ unions.

The Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) has asked the governments of both states how long the farmers’ blockades at Shambhu and Khanauri borders will continue. The HC bench of acting chief justice GS Sandhawalia and justice Lapita Banerji asked them to apprise the court by July 10, asserting that it was causing inconvenience to commuters.

While marching towards Delhi, the protesting farmers were stopped at Shambhu and Khanauri borders on February 13. Since then, they have been camping there.

The farmers, during their march towards Delhi, were stopped at these two places on February 13. The protesters have been camping there since then. Violence broke out at both the protest sites on February 21 when farmers unsuccessfully tried to break the barricades. Scores of security personnel and protesters had suffered injuries at the Khanauri border. Shubh Karan Singh, a 21-year-old farm protester, died during this protest.

Demanding a law on the minimum support price (MSP) for all crops, implementation of the Swaminathan Commission’s formula, etc., 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).

Court asks Punjab to submit postmortem record to CFSL, Chandigarh

The judicial panel set up by the HC has concluded that contrary to the claims of farmers, Shubh Karan Singh died in the territory of Haryana, 500 metres from the Punjab border. The panel further said that to ascertain the cause of death, a report from the Central Forensic Laboratory (CFL), Chandigarh, should be procured about the weapon used and the bullet/pellets discharged as it would ease the apprehension of the farmers who have raised concern about fair investigation.

Now, the court has directed Punjab to submit the record regarding the postmortem report along with the pellets collected from Subh Karan’s body to the CFL so that opinion can come regarding the type of weapon and the bullet/pellets which it emanated from. The directions were given during the hearing of 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 and some petitions seeking probe into death of Shubh Karan Singh.

The committee had 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”, the HC had said.

The report by the panel, presided over by justice Jaishree Thakur (retd), was submitted on Tuesday. The panel was set up on March 7, as farmers had alleged that Haryana policemen entered into Punjab’s territory and resorted to violence, in which Singh was also killed.