Section 144 imposed in Karnal in view of farmers’ protest call over lathicharge

Karnal: Prohibitory orders banning the gathering of people were imposed in Karnal on Monday, a day ahead of a farmers’ planned gherao of the mini-secretariat here over the August 28 lathi-charge episode, officials said.

The district administration has issued prohibitory orders under section 144 of the CrPC, banning the assembly of five or more people, and a traffic advisory with planned route diversions, they said.

Haryana Bhartiya Kisan Union (Chaduni) chief Gurnam Singh Chaduni on Monday said a big panchayat will be held here on Tuesday, after which farmers will proceed to gherao the mini-secretariat.

“Farmers will be gathering in Karnal’s New Anaj Mandi on Tuesday morning,” he said.

The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of various farmer outfits protesting against the farm laws, has threatened to lay siege to the Karnal mini-secretariat on September 7 if its demands were not met.

The Haryana Police had lathi-charged a group of farmers disrupting traffic movement on a national highway near here on August 28 while heading towards Karnal to protest against a BJP meeting. Over 10 protesters were injured.

The SKM had said a murder case should be registered against IAS officer Ayush Sinha, who was caught on tape allegedly telling policemen to “break heads” of protesting farmers.

It had also demanded that he be dismissed from service.

The Haryana government on Wednesday transferred 19 IAS officers, including Karnal SDM Ayush Sinha, who has now been posted as the additional secretary in the Citizen Resources Information Department.

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had earlier admitted that the choice of words used by Sinha, a 2018-batch IAS officer, was wrong but had defended the police action.

A delegation of Congress MLAs had met Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya, seeking a judicial probe into the lathi-charge on the farmers.

Chaduni had earlier also sought the registration of a case against those involved in the lathicharge.

He had demanded a compensation of Rs 25 lakh and a government job for the family of a farmer who died after allegedly sustaining injuries in the lathicharge in Karnal on Saturday.

However, the administration here claimed that the farmer was not injured in the police action but had died due to a heart attack.

Chaduni also demanded a compensation of Rs 2 lakh to each of the injured farmers.

The farmer leader had last week also announced to lay a siege to the secretariat office in Karnal on September 7 for an indefinite period if their demands are not met.

Director-General of Police P K Agrawal on Saturday visited Karnal for a meeting with senior officials where he reviewed the security arrangements ahead of Tuesday’s protest