Upset at police cases, farmers to hold panchayat in Hisar today

A panchayat of farmers under the district unit of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) is scheduled for Saturday at the Ramayan Toll Plaza on the Hisar-Delhi highway to raise the issue of criminal cases registered against the farmers in February 2024.

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Farmers alleged that the police registered cases against them following the February 2024 agitation at Kheri Chopta in Narnaund subdivision of the district. The panchayat has been called in protest against what farmer leaders describe as a “betrayal of trust” by the administration, violating the terms of an earlier agreement.

Farmer leader Kailash Umra, head of the Ramayan Toll Plaza Committee, criticised the state government, stating that lodging FIRs against farmers after reaching a settlement was unjustified.

"Registering cases against farmers even after a mutual agreement is a breach of trust and completely unacceptable," Umra said here today, adding that they had invited people from the entire region, including villages of Petwar, Narnaund, Budana, Rakhi and Kheri Chopta, to attend the panchayat on Saturday.

Umra recalled that during the February 2024 protest, a formal agreement was reached between the farmers’ committee and district officials, including then Deputy Commissioner Uttam Singh and then Hansi SP Maqsood Ahmad that no cases would be filed against the farmers. Despite this, FIRs were reportedly filed against 22 farmers and over 400 unidentified farmers, with the police even submitting charge sheets to the court. Farmers say they came to know about the cases after receiving court summons recently. The meeting is being held to discuss the matter and chalk out the course of action under the SKM.