Tractor parade violence: Case registered under UAPA to probe conspiracy angle

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 28

The Special Cell of Delhi Police has registered a case under stringent anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and sections of Indian Penal Code dealing with sedition to probe the criminal conspiracy angle to the whole gamut of events that led to violence during farmers’ tractor parade on the Republic Day.

The police in an official release said, “The role of conduct of organisations and individuals based in India and as well as those out of the country is being probed under the UAPA and relevant sections of the IPC dealing with sedition by the Special Cell of the police.”

“A preliminary assessment suggests there was a pre-conceived and well-coordinated plan to break the agreement reached between the Delhi Police and the leaders of farmers’ organisations, to indulge in violent confrontation with the security forces, to breach the sanctity of iconic and historical structures/monuments and to create an international embarrassment for the government on the occasion of Republic Day,” read the police release.

This means that most of the farmer leaders, including Yogendra Yadav, Medha Patkar, Rakesh Tikait and Darshan Pal, named in the FIRs will come within the ambit of the Special Cell’s probe under the UAPA and sections of the IPC relating to sedition, said a senior police official.

With this the role of banned organisation Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), which has been advocating ‘Referendum-2020’, a movement demanding a separate Sikh state, has also been brought within the ambit of probe, said the official.

A separate case under the UAPA had already been registered against the SFJ on January 8, 2021 by the Special Cell following information from intelligence agencies that the banned outfit was trying to infiltrate the farmers’ protests and had announced a reward of Rs 2.5 lakh to anyone who hoisted the Khalistan flag in New Delhi, said the official.

The police official also claimed that 1,100 Pakistan-based Twitter handles tried to disrupt the farmers’ Republic Day tractor march.

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