Farmers Movement Archive

No whereabouts on the man who went missing during tractor rally, police tell HC

The Delhi Police have informed the Delhi high court that the whereabouts of a 27-year- old man, who went missing from Nangloi during the Republic Day tractor rally, has yet not been ascertained and neither has he been arrested in connection with the violence during the rally.The police told the court that it has intimated 25 police stations of the Jhajjar district and also pasted photos of the man, Bajinder, at 10 police stations of the outer district of Delhi to find him.Bajinder’s brother Baljeet had moved the court, through his advocate Naginder Benipal, seeking to know the whereabouts of his brother.In a status report, filed before a bench of justice Siddharth Mridul and justice Anup J Bhambhani, police said they have searched for the man everywhere, including hospitals, gurdwaras and night shelters, and also made announcements seeking information but to no avail.The police said they also conducted searches in his home town and areas in its vicinity but he was not to be found. The court was informed that relatives of Bajinder were questioned but no breakthrough could be made. Police added that they have put up posters across the city to find Bajinder.The police said they have announced a reward for anyone who would give information about Bajinder. They have also checked the list of unidentified bodies found after January 26; however, no body matching the description of Bajinder was found.Police said they have checked the list of arrested persons lodged in Tihar jail but Bajinder was not among them.The report filed by ACP Anand Sagar, Nangloi, said one of their police personnel was also injured in the search for Bajinder -- he was attacked by some agitators with sticks at Tikri border while pasting the man missing poster. The police said the head constable sustained head injuries and an FIR was lodged in this regard.The court, last week, had granted the police two weeks to find Bajinder after the force said they have been making all possible efforts to trace him.The tractor parade on January 26, held by farmers to highlight their demands to repeal three new farm laws, had turned violent as police clashed with protesters.Thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, are protesting at various border points of Delhi for over two months now against the three laws.

Hindustan Times

23-02-2021

Delhi