Police drop serious charges, 10 farmer activists get bail in Hansi clash case
All 10 farmer activists arrested during a clash between protesters and the police in Hansi on August 15 were released on bail today after the police dropped several serious provisions of the FIR, including those relating to attempt to murder and offences under the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act.
The activists were granted bail by a Hansi court after the police removed the provisions from the FIR.
They had been arrested after the clash that took place when Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini was the chief guest at the Independence Day function in Hansi.
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Advocate Vikram Mittal, who represented the activists, said the sections had been imposed without any basis and were excessive and unwarranted. “We had pleaded before the court yesterday as well. The government has now realised this and removed these sections, following which the court considered their bail applications and released them,” he said.
The arrested activists — Shamsher Nambardar, Surender, Subhash Chander, Satpal, Suresh Koth, Sumit, Ranbir, Vajir, Jagmahender and Sulender — had been sent to judicial custody and lodged in the Bhondsi jail in Gurugram. They walked out of the jail on Monday evening.
Their release came hours after a late-night meeting between a five-member delegation of the Jeevan Kundu Dharna Committee and Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini at his Chandigarh residence. The meeting began around 11 pm and continued until about 1 am.
The talks resulted in the government agreeing to several demands raised by the committee, which has been agitating for justice in the murder case of Jeevan Kundu.
A member of the delegation said the state government had agreed to withdraw the cases registered during the agitation between August 4 and 15, including those against the activists arrested in Hansi. The government also assured the committee that vehicles, ornaments and mobile phones seized during the protests would be returned to their owners.
The government further assured financial assistance to Kundu’s family, including support for his wife. The committee was also given an assurance regarding the arrest of Ramesh Sharma, the main accused in the murder case.
Following the assurances, the committee decided to perform Kundu’s last rites at his native Kinala village at 10 am tomorrow, 14 days after his murder.
The police had booked the activists under several provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including those relating to unlawful assembly, rioting, violence, obstruction of public servants, assault, public-order offences and acts affecting sovereignty, besides provisions of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act and the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.
Former BJP state general secretary Surender Punia mediated between the government and the committee and accompanied the five-member delegation to Chandigarh.
