Farmers Protest: High Court ordered judicial probe on death of protester

Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana High Court ordered a judicial probe into the death of 21-year-old farmer Shubhkaran Singh during the farmers’ protest at Khanauri border last month.

A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Gurmeet Singh Sandhawalia and Justice Lapita Banerji ordered the setting up of a committee of a retired High Court judge and two Additional Director Generals of Police (ADGP) to probe the farmer’s death.

Observing that the probe could not be handed over to Haryana and Punjab for "obvious reasons", the bench said that a retired judge would preside over the probe panel and two officers of the rank of ADGP from both the states would be part of it.

The court also asked Haryana to submit details about the types of bullets and pellets used in the action on February 21.

The Committee will be headed by Justice (retd.) Jaishree Thakur who will be assisted by ADGP Punjab Parmod Ban and ADGP Haryana Amitabh Singh Dhillon. The panel will have to submit a report on the incident within a month.

The farmer, Shubhkaran Singh from Bathinda in Punjab, was killed last month in clashes between security personnel and the farmers at the Khanauri border.

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Punjab Police had registered a Zero FIR in the matter and then transferred the matter to Haryana Police in whose jurisdiction the killing allegedly took place.

On February 13, various unions representing the farmers begun to march towards Delhi to protest for their demands including enactment of a law to guarantee a minimum support price (MSP) for crops.

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