- Tuesday, February 25, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
ANGRY farmers seeking justice over the police action against agitators last month called off their protests on Saturday (11) morning after the government of the northern state of Haryana assured them that an inquiry committee will be set up under the chairmanship of a retired judge who will probe the August 28 incident in Karnal area of the state and the role of bureaucratic officer Ayush Sinha in it.
After a number of failed attempts, representatives of farmers’ unions and the state government reached an amicable resolution on the matter in their fourth round of meeting on Saturday.
Sinha was sent on leave till the inquiry was completed.
The government also assured the farmers that two family members of Sushil Kajal, the farmer who died in the August 28 clashes with the police, will be given a job.
However, no assurance was given on giving financial compensation to Kajal’s family, something which the farmers have also been demanding.
Following the meeting on Saturday between the state government’s representative, a senior Indian Administrative Officer Devender Singh, and the farmer union leaders led by Gurnam Singh Chadhuni, a joint press conference was held by both sides in Karnal where it was declared that the protest was being called off.
“The state government has accepted our demand that the IAS officer’s role will be probed by a retired high court judge so that if he indicts the officer, it will have a bigger impact,” Chadhuni said.
Singh said, “Farmers are our brothers. We have reached a respectable and amicable solution to all the demands that were raised.”
On August 28, several farmers protesting the Narendra Modi government’s new agricultural laws that they allege would harm their interests, were heading towards Karnal to protest against a meeting of the state’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, when they faced a rough resistance from the police and around 10 farmers were injured. Also a video emerged on social media showing Sinha was allegedly heard asking the policemen to “break heads” of the protesters if they breached the security cordon at the meeting.
Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar represents the Karnal constituency in the state’s legislative assembly.
