News Analysis India

Tag: singhu border

  • Businesses at farmers’ protest sites in Delhi heave sigh of relief after repealing of three laws

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: While Jivan Singh is busy flipping dough and putting it in a tandoor, he also breathes freely after he is informed that the government has decided to repeal the contentious farm laws following which the protest site at NH 44 will open soon and will bring more business for him. 

    Not much business has come the eatery owner’s way post COVID-19 pandemic and it worsened even more after the protesters set up their tents at the site. However, Jivan said that he had no qualms about the protesting farmers who, he said, also suffered at the hands of the government.

    Ravi Kumar, a pharmacy owner said he faced a lot of hassles while bringing supplies from the vendors. “Truck drivers delivering my supplies got angry and didn’t want to as they had to take a longer route here because of the protest,” he said.

    At the Tikri Border, Chhotey Lal, a garment vendor said that he has been unable to repay his debt worth Rs 2 lakh since the border was shut. “I have not made even Rs 50,000 in the last 1 year and I have a loan to repay,” Chhotey Lal said. 

    He said that all this while the farmers have been generous to people living nearby. “The farmers ensured that people living in the nearby areas get food and dairy products which they used to bring in from their villages,” said Lal.

  • 45-year-old Punjab farmer dies by suicide near Singhu border

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: A 45-year-old farmer from Punjab, who was a part of the protest against the Centre’s farm laws, allegedly hanged himself from a tree near the Singhu border, police said on Wednesday.

    Identified as Gurpreet Singh, the victim was a resident of Fatehgarh Sahib district, they said.

    The body has been sent to a local hospital in Sonipat for a post-mortem examination, an official of the Kundli police station said.

    Hundreds of farmers have been camping at Delhi borders since November 2020 with the demand that the government repeal the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

    They are also demanding a new law to guarantee the minimum support price (MSP) for crops.

    The Centre, which held 11 rounds of formal dialogue with farmers, has maintained that the new laws are pro-farmer, while protesters claim they would be left at the mercy of corporations because of the legislations.

    (If you are having suicidal thoughts, or are worried about a friend or need emotional support, someone is always there to listen. Call Sneha Foundation – 04424640050 (available 24×7) or iCall, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences’ helpline – 02225521111, which is available Monday to Saturday from 8 am to 10 pm.)

  • Singhu border killing: 3 accused sent to six-day police custody

    By ANI

    SONIPAT: Three accused in the Singhu Border incident, where the mutilated body of a man was found hanging at the site of farmer’s protest, have been sent to six-day police custody by the Sonipat court on Sunday, October 17, 2021.

    The accused persons are Narayan Singh, Bhagwant Singh and Govind Preet Singh.

    The police, while seeking 14-day custody of the accused argued in the court that it needs to identify other co-accused in the case who the accused know only by their faces and also recover some blood-stained clothes from the time of the crime. They added that the accused have to be taken to other places in connection with other arrests in the case.

    Narayan Singh, a Nihang Sikh who is allegedly involved in killing farm labourer Lakhbir Singh at the Singhu border was arrested by the Punjab police on Saturday.

    Earlier on Friday, a body of a man, with hands and legs chopped off, was found hanging on a police barricade at the farmers’ protest site near the Singhu border.

    The man was identified as Lakhbir Singh resident of village Cheema Khurd in Tarn Taran district of Punjab. The deceased is about 35-36 years old and used to work as a labourer. 

  • Farmers’ stir: PIL at Supreme Court seeks early hearing over removal of protesters

    NEW DELHI:  A day after a man’s body with hand chopped off was found at the farmers’ protest site at the Singhu border, a plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking an urgent hearing of a pending petition which has sought removal of protestors.

    The body of Lakhbir Singh (35) from Punjab’s Tarn Taran, was found tied to an overturned police barricade at the site where farmers are protesting three Central farm laws for over 10 months. His body bore multiple wounds caused by sharp-edged weapons and the incident is being blamed on a group of Nihangs.

    Referring to the incident, a fresh plea has been filed for urgent hearing of the PIL, pending since March this year, which said, “The right to freedom of speech and expression cannot supersede the right to life and if this protest is allowed to go in like this, the nation at large will be at a loss.”

    The interim application has been filed by Swati Goel and Sanjeev Newar in their pending PIL through lawyer Shashank Shekhar Jha. Meanwhile, the top court is also hearing a separate plea of a Noida resident Monicca Agrawaal.

    She has sought the removal of blockades saying earlier it took 20 minutes to reach Delhi and now it is taking over two hours and that people of the area are facing hardships due to the protests at the UP Gate on the Delhi border. 

  • Singhu border lynching case: Another ‘Nihang’ arrested from Amritsar district

    Express News Service

    CHANDIGARH:  Another Nihang, Narain Singh, was arrested on Saturday in the killing of a Schedule Caste man at the Singhu border on Friday. He was arrested by the Punjab Police and will be handed over to the Haryana Police even as Sarabjit Singh, who was arrested yesterday, was sent to seven days police custody by a court in Sonipat.

    Narain was today arrested from Amarkot village of Jandiala Guru in Amritsar. Senior Superintendent of Police Amritsar (Rural) Rakesh Kaushal said “We arrested Narain from his village Amarkot as we had information that after committing the crime he came back in order flee. The police surrounded his village as he tried to escape and arrested him.”

    ​ALSO READ | Singhu border lynching: Victim’s family says he was ‘god-fearing’, demands high-level probe

    “During the questioning he admitted that he cut the left leg of the deceased as he attacked him with sharp-edged weapons. He claimed the deceased admitted to them that he desecrated the Guru Granth Sahib. He will be handed over the Haryana Police,” Kaushal said.

    Meanwhile, around 15 Schedule Caste organizations submitted a memorandum to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes demanding stringent action against those who killed 35-year-old Lakhbir Singh. They urged the commission to ensure a fair investigation.

  • Singhu border lynching: Victim’s family says he was ‘god-fearing’, demands high-level probe

    By PTI

    The family of Lakhbir Singh, a Dalit farm labourer brutally killed by members of a Sikh sect for alleged sacrilege, said on Saturday he was a god-fearing man who would never think of desecrating a holy book and demanded a high-level probe to bring out the truth.

    His wife Jaspreet Kaur and three daughters aged 12, 11 and eight years live in a small temporary house made of mud and bricks in village Cheema Kalan, around 50 km away from the holy city of Amritsar.

    His son passed away two years ago.

    The family was barely managing two square meals a day when Lakhbir was alive and would work in the village fields or in the grain market of Tarn Taran district for his livelihood.

    ​ALSO READ | Singhu border lynching: BJP blames unions, SAD wants probe into all angles

    “Who will come forward to look after his family now and what about the future of his children…..who will help them,” laments his sister Raj Kaur.

    The body of Lakhbir Singh, 35, was found tied to an overturned police barricade at the Singhu Border site where farmers are protesting against the three central farm laws.

    His left hand was chopped off and his body had over 10 wounds caused by sharp-edged weapons.

    Hours after the macabre crime, a man wearing the blue robes of the Sikhs’ Nihang order claimed that he had “punished” the victim for “desecrating” a Sikh holy book.

    The man, identified as Sarabjit Singh from Vitwha in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district, was later arrested for the lynching.

    Questioning his claim, Jaspreet Kaur and Raj Kaur said Lakhbir Singh “had a deep respect for the holy Guru Granth Sahib”.

    “He was a god-fearing man who could not never think of desecrating a holy book….Whenever he used to go to a Gurdwara, he would pray for the well-being of his family and the society,” said Jaspreet Kaur.

    ​ALSO READ | Singhu border lynching: Haryana Police detains one person in Sonipat

    He had no criminal record and there was no report of him being a bad character, the victim’s family said and demanded a high-level probe into the entire episode to bring out the truth.

    Jaspreet and Raj Kaur said even if it is assumed for a moment that Lakhbir had done something wrong, those who killed him in such a barbaric manner should have given him time to prove his innocence, or they could have handed him over to the police.

    “At no stage could they be the deciding authority while running their own self-styled court which pronounced punishment and then murdered him inhumanly. Where does the law of land prevail here?” said his grieving sister.

    His family members including sister-in-law Simranjit Kaur and mother-in-law Sawinder Kaur told the media that Lakhbir Singh and his sister Raj Kaur were adopted by a retired army man Harnam Singh who was issueless.

    ALSO READ | ‘Opposed to any form of violence’: Samyukta Kisan Morcha on Singhu border ‘gruesome killing’

    Harnam Singh, however, is now no more.

    The family claimed that Lakhbir had no affiliation with any of the political outfits and never went to any political rally in support of any political person.

    His sister Raj Kaur said, “My brother was having mere Rs.50 when he left home and that money was not enough to reach Singhu border but he might have reached there while taking a lift from some tractor trolley or truck”.

    “Moreover, before the incident, my brother was living with those people, who are now behind his murder, for three days,” she claimed.

    Asked why Lakhbir had gone to the Singhu border, Raj Kaur said, “Someone might have offered him more money (for labour)”.

  • Singhu border lynching: BJP blames unions, SAD wants probe into all angles

    By Express News Service

    CHANDIGARH/NEW DELHI: Tension prevailed at Singhu border on Friday following the brutal killing of a man with the farmer unions seeking to dissociate their agitation from the incident. The protesting farmers huddled in groups to discuss the repercussions of the killing. They also maintained a distance from the journalists who went to Singhu border to cover the incident. 

    The deceased, Lakhbir Singh, was a labourer from Cheema Khurd village in Punjab’s Tarn Taran district and was aged around 35 years.The Haryana Police have registered a case of murder against unidentified persons at Kundli police station in Sonipat district. The victim is survived by wife, Jaspreet Kaur, and three daughters. His wife had left him a few months ago and went to live with her parents.  Villagers said Singh lived with his sister. “On Tuesday we saw him in the village as he was the only person from the village to go to Singhu,” a villager said, adding that the deceased had no political affiliations.

    ALSO READ | ‘Opposed to any form of violence’: Samyukta Kisan Morcha on Singhu border ‘gruesome killing’

    Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar held a high-level meeting with senior officials, including the DGP and home secretary, over the lynching incident.While the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) distanced itself from the incident, the BJP put the blame on farmer leaders. Punjab BJP president Ashwani Sharma said, “The farmer unions are responsible for the unfortunate murder of a SC youth and action should taken against the culprits. This is not Afghanistan. We are a democracy and believe in equal rights for human beings irrespective of caste, creed and religion.” 

    Former Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal  and patron of the Shiromani Akali Dal demanded an impartial probe into all angles of the heinous crime, including the brutal murder and allegations of sacrilege of the holy Sikh scripture.

    With PTI inputs

  • Unidentified young man brutally murdered at the Singhu border

    By Express News Service

    CHANDIGARH: In a shocking incident a  young man was brutally murdered at the Singhu border for allegedly desecrating Guru Granth Sahib – the holy book of the Sikh community. The victim’s left wrist was found cut off and was found tied to an overturned police barricade near the main stage of the protesting farmers.

    A video has gone viral which shows a group of Nihangs (Sikhs warrior group) standing over the man. They are being blamed for the brutal murder which took place on early Friday morning at the protest site in Kundli of Sonipat district of Haryana.

    Some of the Nihangs, who were carrying spears are seen asking the person to tell his name and village of residence. While the man was seen hanging with his wrist cut off and bleeding, nobody around was offering any help. 

    Sources claim that the Nihangs beat up this person to death who is yet to be identified for allegedly desecrating the Guru Granth Sahib. It is alleged that they later hung his body upside down on the police barricade

    The police was not allowed to enter the area initially but Haryana Police was later able to move the body to the Civil Hospital.

    The incident has already caused huge outrage among the farmers.

    BJP IT Cell head Amit Malviya was quick to react and criticise farmers’ leader Rakesh Tikait over the incident .”Had Rakesh Tikait not justified mob lynching in Lakhimpur, with Yogendra Yadav sitting next to him and maintaining sanctimonious silence, the gory murder of a youth at Kundali border would not have happened. Anarchists behind these protests in the name of farmers need to be exposed,’’ he tweeted.

    Meanwhile, the Haryana Police has registered a case. “We got information early in the morning that a person has been murdered and his body is left hanging near the main stage where the farmers are protesting. A case has been registered against unknown persons and investigation is on,’’ said a police official.

  • Man brutally murdered at Singhu border, Nihang surrenders before police

    Express News Service

    CHANDIGARH:  In a shocking incident, a 35- year-old man belonging to the Scheduled Caste community was lynched, his left wrist cut off and his mutilated body was found tied to a police barricade near the main protest site at Singhu near the Delhi- Haryana border on Friday.

    The victim, Lakhbir Singh, hailing from Cheema Khurd village in Punjab’s Tarn Taran, was working for the Nihang Sikhs as a volunteer, police said. The Samyukta Ki san Morcha said the Nihangs have claimed responsibility for the killing saying the man tried to desecrate the Sarbloh Granth, the holy book of the Sikhs. Singh was reportedly tied with ropes to a police barricade and his hand was chopped off.

    Deep wounds were inflicted on his legs also. Initially, he was hanged upside down. After he bled to death, his body was positioned upright, sources said. A Nihang, Sarabjeet Singh, has surrendered before the police taking responsibility for the killing.

    BJP IT Cell head Amit Malviya was quick to react and criticise farmers’ leader Rakesh Tikait over the incident .”Had Rakesh Tikait not justified mob lynching in Lakhimpur, with Yogendra Yadav sitting next to him and maintaining sanctimonious silence, the gory murder of a youth at Kundali border would not have happened. Anarchists behind these protests in the name of farmers need to be exposed,’’ he tweeted.

  • SC refuses to entertain plea for opening of Singhu border, asks Sonipat residents to move HC

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a plea filed by residents of Sonipat seeking opening of the roads connecting Delhi and Haryana at Singhu border here, which have been blocked by farmers protesting against three agri laws and asked the petitioners to approach the High Court.

    A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Vikram Nath and Hima Kohli said that the petitioners has the freedom to approach the high court and state administration is also amenable to the directions of the high court to deal with maintaining a balance between freedom to protest and the freedom to access of basic amenities.

    It allowed the petition to be withdrawn and granted liberty to them to approach the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

    The top court said that the invitation to interfere is very tempting but there are High Courts, which can deal with the local issues.

    “Suppose, tomorrow there is a border dispute between Karnataka and Kerala or some other states. There will be no end to this. This court shall not be the first recourse. High Courts are there to deal with local problems. We have a robust system in place,” the bench said.

    At the outset, advocate Abhimanyu Bhandari, appearing for petitioners Jai Bhagwan and Jagbir Singh Chhikara, both residents of Sonipat, said that Singhu Border is like an “umbilical cord” for people of the city as it connects Delhi and Haryana but due to blockade this is hampering their right to movement.

    He said that petitioners are not against peaceful protest by farmers and they have nothing to do with three farm laws against which they are protesting.

    The bench said, “Why don’t you approach the High court being resident of Sonipat? Why is this petition filed here for publicity? There is no need for us to intervene when high courts are well versed with the local conditions and the problems you all are facing.

    We should trust our High Courts”.

    Bhandari said that a coordinate bench of this court has recently passed an order with regard to the UP Gate protest in which the top court had asked the Centre to find a solution to the problem, so that no inconvenience is caused to the common people due to blockade of interstate roads.

    “At least allow opening of one side of the highway so that people can move in case of any kind of emergency,” he said.

    The plea filed through advocate Roohina Dua said that farmers at Singhu border here are protesting against three farm bills–Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and farm Services Act 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

    “Pertinently, on account of the said bills, thousands of farmers have been protesting since late November of 2020 at the Delhi borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh whereby they are demanding a rollback of the three laws”, the plea said.

    The petition said that even though the protests have been largely peaceful, the three primary locations of farmer protests are Ghazipur Border, Singhu Border, and Tikri Border, have been blocked by the protesters, thereby preventing free flow of traffic for the common people, residents, patients and those in need of medical support.

    “The highway at Singhu Border between Delhi and Sonipat in Haryana has been blocked by the protesters since November last year which has caused immense hardship to the people, residents, patients and those in need of medical support of Sonipat which is a district in close proximity to Delhi,” it said.

    The plea said that due to COVID-19 the country has faced an unprecedented rise in the number of positive cases as well as the number of consequential deaths on account of the virus.

    “This wave of the pandemic has not only increased the number of people affected by the virus exponentially, but has also created a situation where the essential basic medical facilities, including the availability of hospital beds and treatment medication are found to be lacking in a number of districts especially in Sonipat and other adjoining districts,” it said.

    The petitioners further said that the areas around Delhi, especially districts such as Sonipat faced an unprecedented rise in cases during the second wave.

    “Furthermore, since a majority portion of the district has a rural background, the ground reality of the COVID positive cases is much more than what is being reflected in the official government reporting,” the plea said.

    The petitioners sought directions to the concerned authorities to open the Singhu Border of Delhi (Sonepat-Delhi) and direction to temporarily shift the protestors at an allotted place for the free flow of traffic.

    Initially, the protests started from Punjab in November last year and later spread to Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh and some other parts of the country.

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