Bhawanigarh: Farmers protest against 'police high-handedness'

Sangrur, April 9

Farmers, under the banner of BKU (Ugrahan), started an indefinite protest in front of the Bhawanigarh police station last evening. They alleged that the police have released Balwinder Singh, who allegedly opened fire on Avtar Singh of Joliyan village two days ago to take possession of his land forcibly.

The police have, however, registered a case against Avtar and his family members for allegedly attacking Balwinder.

BKU leader Manjit Singh Gharachon said, “A commission agent of Bhawanigarh got around two acres of Avtar registered in the name of Balwinder fraudulently. Two days ago, when Balwinder, along with some other persons, came to take forcible possession of the land and opened fire on Avtar, local farmers caught him and handed him over to the police. The police, however, released them without any action.”

He said the police had registered a false case against Avtar and his family. Their protest would continue till the cancellation of FIR and action against Balwinder, he said.

However, Bhawanigarh DSP Mohit Aggarwal said that the registration of land was done in the name of Balwinder on the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and that he had taken the possession of the said land with the help of a tehsildar.

“Two days ago, Avtar and his family members attacked Balwinder while he was in his fields. We are conducting further investigations and trying to convince the farmers to end their protest as Balwinder has all requisite documents to prove his ownership,” said the DSP. The police have registered a case under Sections 323, 324, 447, 506, 511, 148 and 149 of the IPC against Avtar and others.