Farmers Movement Archive

Haryana: Rs 50,000 surety amount sought for release of detained farmers

CHANDIGARH: The executive magistrates in Haryana have imposed the condition of furnishing surety amount of Rs 50,000 — an amount normally imposed by courts for bail of those facing serious charges, for the release of farmers detained in view of ongoing protest. A large number of farmer leaders in Haryana were picked up by the police in various parts of the state regarding the protest against new farm laws. All of them were taken into preventive detention and booked under section 107 and 151 of the criminal procedure code (CrPc). As sub-divisional magistrates (SDMs) is empowered to grant bail to those arrested under these sections, many of such farmer leaders reportedly could not be released on bail on account of the condition of high surety sought to be furnished by the magistrates. The issue of high amount of surety was also raked up before the Punjab and Haryana high court on Friday. When the petition related to farmers’ detention came up for hearing before the court, advocate Pardeep Rapria, who has been representing a farmer union, informed the HC about the condition of high amount of surety bond being imposed for farmers release. Rapria stated that in such cases normally the accused are released on personal surety of maximum of Rs 10,000 but only to ensure the farmers are not released early, the magistrates had been imposing conditions of Rs 50,000 surety amount for their release. Advocate Rajiv Godara, state president of Swaraj India, alleged that apart from imposing the condition of high surety bonds, some unusual tactics were being adopted by the district administrations to ensure delay in release of farmer leaders. “In the case of Sirsa district based farmer Prahlad Singh Bharukheda, initially the SDM ordered to release him on 50,000 surety but later the condition was imposed for his verification report and ultimately when all conditions were fulfilled, the local SDM was not accessible to his family members for two days for passing his release orders,” he said. “Such tactics are being adopted only to ensure delay in their release,” he added.

The Times of India

2020-11-28

Chandigarh