Justice Aggarwal panel to probe Karnal lathicharge on farmers

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 22

The Haryana Government today appointed Justice Somnath Aggarwal, a retired Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, as a one-man Commission of Inquiry (CoI) to probe the circumstances that led to the August 28 Karnal violence during farmers’ protest, including the role of then SDM Ayush Sinha.

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A decision in this regard was taken at a meeting of the Council of Ministers held under the chairmanship of Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar here.

The CoI will inquire into the circumstances leading to violence, including use of force against demonstrators at Karnal on August 28.

Vij: Farmers skipped meet, will tell SC

Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij said the Supreme Court would be apprised of farmers not attending the meeting of a committee constituted by the state government for the reopening of NH-44. The case is slated to come up for hearing on September 24.

The commission will complete the inquiry and submit the report to the state government within one month.

On August 28, around 10 protesters were hurt in clashes with the police in Karnal as farmers tried to march towards the venue of a BJP meeting, which was attended by Khattar and BJP chief OP Dhankar among others.

In another decision, the Cabinet gave its nod to the implementation of the Mukhyamantri Bagwani Bima Yojana (MBBY), an assurance-based scheme to compensate crop losses incurred by horticulturists due to adverse weather and natural calamities.