E-Paper
Amid lax crackdown on Punjab farm fires, FIRs name ‘unknown people’
Several officers across Punjab Police force involved in stamping out stubble fires said most of 350 cases registered in state were identical
The Punjab Police has so far filed at least 350 first information reports (FIRs) against farmers for setting their paddy stubble on fire in contravention of the Supreme Court’s orders. However, most of these FIRs are identical and have been registered against unknown people, found a preliminary analysis by HT as farm fires continued to rage across the agrarian state.
Read here: Another big burst takes farm fire count to 30k in Punjab
HT analysed 30 FIRs registered at police stations across the state’s 23 districts, and found that all of them were filed with just one charge – under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code (disobeying an order promulgated by a servant).
Similar common strands ran through the 30 FIRs – they only mentioned the locations of where the fire was spotted, with the same appendage that “there is a ban on burning stubble, but the aforesaid farmer violated the norms by disobeying the official orders”.
When contacted, several officers across the Punjab Police force involved in stamping out stubble fires said most of the 350 cases registered in the state were identical and named nobody, underscoring the state administration’s inability to penalise cultivators who set their fire to their paddy stubble, consequently exacerbating the annual pollution crisis in the national capital.
No senior Punjab Police officer responded on record to HT’s queries regarding the identical FIRs.
However, a senior officer who asked not to be named said it would be “unwise” to book farmers for burning paddy stalks. “How can we book farmers for burning paddy straw? We have seen what farmer unions have done in Punjab. Do you think it will be wise to book farmers for burning straw?” asked the police officer.
A senior Punjab government functionary said the state administration was under pressure from the farming community. “Teams inspecting the fields have been facing huge resistance from them.”
In any case, the 350 FIRs filed are a minor fraction of the number of fires that have already burnt across the state so far this winter.
According to state government data, Punjab has recorded 31,932 fires between September 30 and November 16 this year. Which means the police have taken action for just 1.09% of all fires lit across the state’s paddy fields in the weeks before the rabi sowing season.
The Supreme Court last Tuesday censured four state governments – Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh – and ordered them to put a stop to stubble burning which was resulting “in the murder” of young people in Delhi.
Punjab is the biggest contributor to farm fires in north India during the winter.
“We want this stopped altogether whether you take forceful action or give incentives against burning of stubble but you have to stop it. We are at zero level patience in these issues. This has to be sorted tomorrow so that it does not happen next year,” the Supreme Court bench said during the November 7 hearing.
That censure only had a temporary impact.
On November 7, when the Court delivered its directives, Punjab clocked 1,515 farm fires. The next day, this picked up to 2,003. On November 9, the number of fires suddenly fell to 639, as Punjab Police began pulling farmers up and registering cases against them. In fact, according to data accessed by HT, the Punjab government registered 253 FIRs against farmers fires on November 8 and 9 alone.
On November 10, this fell to just six, as rains kept farm fires across Punjab at bay. On November 11, it stayed a low 104.
But by Diwali day, as the crackdown on farmers began to taper off, 987 fires were reported on November 12. This number surged to 1,624 on November 13, then to 1,776 on November 14 and then 2,544 on November 15. the number dipped to 1,271 on Thursday, but this could be because almost 95% of the paddy fields have already been harvested or cleared.
Some officers also said the police will set about identifying people responsible for the farm fires after registering FIRs.
Read here: 144 farm fires takes Ludhiana’s count past 1,500
“After registering the case, we will identify who the tiller of the land is, because plots are often leased or sub-contracted out in Punjab. We will go through the land records to ascertain who should be booked in the FIRs,” a senior police officer who asked not to be named said.
Another police officer said: “We need to ask: can any government afford to directly come in conflict with farmers, who carry such a huge sociopolitical importance?”
