Thousands of farmers gather at Patiala market; postpone march towards CM’s residence

 

Farmers demanding pardon for an activist sentenced to life imprisonment for murder have postponed their march towards Chief Minister Amarinder Singh's residence, some union leaders said on Sunday after a meeting with Punjab's Principal Secretary Suresh Kumar. 

The development comes after hundreds of farmers at Mehmadpur grain market on Sunday, prompting Punjab Police to deploy their force in large numbers. 

The march has been postponed to September 26, some leaders said. 

Farmers' unions called protests after Supreme Court upheld life sentence for Manjit Singh Dhaner, an activist who was accused of murdering a relative of a man facing rape charges at Barnala Court Complex in 2001, last week. Dhaner was an activist spearheading a movement for justice for the rape survivor.     

The protesters have been demanding that the state government send a petition for pardon to the Governor of Punjab.  

 

 

Kiranjit Kaur, a student was abducted, raped and then murdered in 1997. Manjit Singh Dhaner was the key leader in the people’s movement to get justice for Kiranjit. During the course of trial, a relative of the rapist was murdered at Barnala Court Complex in 2001. Dhaner along with two other leaders of the action committee were blamed for the murder.

 

A district court gave him a life term in 2005, but Punjab Governor granted him and two other convicts pardon in 2007. The Punjab and Haryana High Court set aside the pardon and upheld his life sentence but acquitted the other two.

 

In 2011, Dhaner’s supporters appealed the high court’s order in the Supreme Court, which upheld the sentence last week.