Farmer leader held for ‘questioning' minister gets bail 

Farmer leader Nirmal Singh Jasseana, who was taken into preventive custody after posing a question to Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khuddian during a district-level farmer training camp at the local grain market on Saturday, was granted bail by the court of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) today. He was sent to judicial custody for four days on Saturday.

While talking to The Tribune, Nirmal Singh, who is the district general secretary of the Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Sidhupur), Muktsar, said, “I had simply asked a question related to the hybrid variety of paddy to the minister, but the police arrested me immediately under Sections 126 (security for keeping peace in other cases) and 170 (arrest to prevent the commission of cognisable offences) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita. I had refused to furnish a bail bond that day as I had not committed any crime, and was sent to judicial custody for four days. However, today, when I was produced in the court again, I sought bail, which was granted to me.”

 Notably, Kaka Singh Kotra, state general secretary of BKU (Ekta Sidhupur), during a farmers’ conference at Doda village here on Tuesday had said, “We condemn the arrest of our activist Nirmal Singh Jasseana, who had merely asked a question to Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khuddian during a farmer training camp held in Muktsar recently. We will ‘gherao’ the minister, and if the need arises, we will launch an indefinite protest outside his residence as well.”

 Nirmal claimed that the cops, fearing a protest by farmers, even dropped him at his residence after his bail. He further claimed that a number of farmers had gathered at the district administrative complex (DAC) today.