In Key Victory for Protesting Farmers, Hisar Admin Agrees to Withdraw Cases, Pay Damages

In a significant victory for the farmers protesting against brutal lathicharge and slapping of cases by the Hisar Police last week during the inauguration of a COVID hospital by Haryana Chief Minister M L Khattar, the district administration on Monday agreed to withdraw the criminal cases and pay for damages caused to tractors and other personal vehicles.

The negotiations followed a protest by thousands of farmers who reached Hisar demanding withdrawal of cases against about 350 of them.

Clearly on the backfoot, the district administration invited the the farmers’ delegation for talks that lasted over four hours at the commissionerate. The farmers’ delegation included leaders from Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) and local farmers who argued their case in front of the administration.

Addressing the gathering after the talks, Gurnam Singh Chadhuni from SKM said the district officials assured them that all cases registered in connection with protest on May 16 would be withdrawn. They also agreed to withdraw earlier cases related to the farmers’ movement against the three farm laws. They have asked us for a month’s time to file closure reports in the different courts. The officials also agreed to pay for damages to tractors and private vehicles. However, the most important thing remains that police officials unconditionally apologised for the whole episode, said Chadhuni.

When asked about filing of cases on police officials guilty of lathicharge, Chadhuni said the officials said that this was technically unviable as officials and farmer protesters were marked in same FIRs. “I wish to salute every person who came here. We literally compelled them to rub their noses on the ground. This victory will sow the seeds for greater victory that awaits us in coming days,” he added.

Talking to NewsClick, Ashok Dhawale, President, All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), said this victory is important for farmers as the lathicharge was not only brutal but also unjustified.

“I met several farmers who showed their wounds and scars. It simply indicated the action was taken to injure people, not to disperse. The shameless Chief Minister went away and police got a licence to unleash atrocities on peaceful protesters. Second, this will give a boost to the struggle, as the farmers across country will observe ‘Black Day’ on the completion of six months’ of the movement,” he added.

Dhawale said as part of the countrywide protest, people had been asked to hoist black flags on their roofs and vehicles.  Similarly, they will be also burning the effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi “who failed to protect lives of people. Please be mindful we have not called for large congregations considering the pandemic.The struggle is only going to intensify as farmers are gathering on all protest sites in large numbers,” he said.

On May 16, farmers had protested in Hisar and had shown black flags to Chief Minister Khattar when he came to the city to inaugurate a COVID facility. Khattar, known for making controversial statements, had accused the farmers of spreading the coronavirus into rural areas, as they were commuting to protest sites at the border of national capital.

While the farmers were brutally lathi-charged, the police also claimed that some of their personnel were injured.

Monday’s protest saw farmers from Hisar, Bhiwani, Fatehabad, Rohtak, Sirsa and Jind assembling at Mayyar and other toll plazas and then moved toward the commissionerate. Finally, they assembled in Kirtiman Park amid heavy security where they were addressed by Joginder Singh Ugrahan, Rakesh Tikait, Ashok Dhawale, Gurnam Singh Chaduni, Balbir Singh Rajewal among others. Meanwhile, farmers had a heated exchange with police officials when they moved towards the airport after they received information about presence of Deputy Chief Minister and Jananayak Janata Party president Dushyant Chautala. However, no confirmation could be ascertained about his presence.

Addressing the protesters on Monday, Bhartiya Kisan Union spokesperson Rakesh Tikait said farmers will have to be vigilant about government’s moves as they now want to shift the protest from Delhi to somewhere else in the state.

“Why I want you to be vigilant is because of the fact they want to convert you into cheap labour for factories of corporates. I visited Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh recently where workers and people of the city stopped the privatisation of the steel plant known for contributing to development of the country. It’s market worth is Rs 3.5 lakh crore whereas the government wishes to sell it for Rs 11,000 crore. Literally,  a pittance! So, please be cautious because they do not care about anything. Please keep one eye on your farms and another on the farmers’ movement. We will only win this struggle collectively,” he said.

Balbir Singh Rajewal, President, BKU Rajewal, emphasised that the movement is being watched by the entire world and what we achieve from the struggle. “The world, in recent past, has never seen a movement like this where people fought the corporates directly for such a long time. We will be celebrating six months of this struggle on May 26. Please understand the fight is beyond three farm laws and MSP (minimum support price) law. This is about saying that no corporate will dictate our lives!” said Rajewal