9 farmers hurt in police action near Punjab-Haryana border

Nine farmers were injured, two of them critically, after the Haryana police and paramilitary forces fired tear gas shells to disperse protesters at Shambhu on the Punjab-Haryana border on Dec 6.

Earlier in the day, a group of around 101 farmers from Shambhu began a march to Delhi to press for various demands, including a legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price (MSP) and debt waiver.

The group was stopped 200 meters short of the border on the Ghaggar bridge where multi-layered barricades had been placed by Haryana security personnel, a farmer was quoted as saying.

The police asked the farmers not to proceed further, citing prohibitory orders clamped by the Ambala district administration under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) that prohibits the assembly of five or more persons.

The unrelenting farmers, however, kept marching forward and crossed three layers of security — barricades, barbed wires, and fencing installed on the bridge.

When they reached cemented barricades, the final hurdle before crossing over to Haryana, the security personnel fired at least 20 tear gas shells to disperse them.

Covering their eyes and mouths, several protesting farmers rushed to cover the tear gas shells with wet jute bags to counter the smoke. Many of them were seen uprooting iron nails and barbed wires, according to media reports.

Two shells reportedly hit farm leaders Surjit Singh Phool and Harpreet Singh. Both fell unconscious and were rushed to the Civil Hospital, Rajpura. Seven other farmers also sustained injuries, Sarwan Singh Pandher, president of Kisan Mazdoor Sangarash Committee (KMSC) was quoted as saying.

Ambala Range IG Sibash Kabiraj, Deputy Commissioner Parth Gupta, and SP Surinder Singh Bhoria were present at the spot. In a statement, police said, “While exercising restraint, repeated warnings were given to the farmers to stay behind and maintain law and order. Appropriate action was taken.”

Haryana minister Anil Vij said, “The farmers can’t be allowed to march forward. Before holding any event in Delhi, they should get permission. If we let them in, they will not be allowed to enter Delhi. They will then lay siege to highways in Haryana and cause inconvenience.”

Pandher slammed the Haryana government for not allowing them to march even on foot.

He said the farmers would make another attempt to cross the border on Sunday. “A meeting has been called on Saturday to chalk out the next course of action. We have also decided to launch a peaceful protest against BJP leaders across the state,” he added.