Bastara lathicharge: Panel gets 3 months more to submit report

Tribune News Service

Karnal, November 10

Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) president Gurnam Singh Charuni today appeared before the one-man commission constituted by the state government to inquire into the sequence of events that led to police lathicharge on protesting farmers at the Bastara toll plaza on August 28.

Meanwhile, the commission has been given three more months to submit its report. Earlier, the commission had been given one more month. Now, it has four months to submit its report.

Besides having recorded his statement, Charuni produced a list of 27 farmers, who had not been summoned by the commission.

He had appeared before the commission last week, but his statement could not be completely recorded then.

Today, Charuni submitted videos and photograph of the August 28 incident. IAS officer Ayush Sinha, who, as then Karnal SDM, was caught on tape for his controversial “break the heads” remark.

Apart from the BKU leader, two doctors also recorded their statements.

On the SKM’s plan of action, Charuni reiterated that a group of 500 farmers would march towards Parliament on November 29, when the winter session would begin. The BKU chief refuted reports of a rift among SKM leaders and claimed that all was well.

Meanwhile, Justice Somnath Aggarwal (retd) of the Punjab and Haryana High Court said, “We will summon the SP, the then SDM, injured police personnel and media persons. We are collecting medico-legal reports from doctors.”