Farmers Movement Archive

Ranjit Singh rejoins Singhu stir, felicitated on SKM stage

JALANDHAR: After staying for a night at his home in Kajampur village of Nawanshahr district, where he received a hero’s welcome on Saturday after his release from Tihar jail, activist Ranjit Singh (22) reached the farmers’ protest at Singhu border on Sunday evening. He was felicitated by the Sanyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM). Ranjit thanked all in his brief address and his only complaint was that there were less number of people, and he urged more people to join there. He was arrested on Janujary 29, when a violent mob attacked the Singhu morcha. Recalling the incidents of January 29, Ranjit has said he came out in self-defence when a mob attacked the morcha. Asked about the injury received by the SHO with his sword, for which he was booked by the police, Ranjit said, “I first waved the sword to scare away the violent mob as they were attacking the camp and the rioters retreated. I returned to the camp when I was pulled back by the police. I did not at all attack any police official or personnel and any injury to anybody would have been caused when they were pulling my sword in the melee. “Everything is clear from the videos that I did not attack anybody, rather I was thrashed by the police and people also joined them in beating me up,” he said, while speaking to TOI on Sunday. “When they bundled me in a police vehicle, even then I was hit with batons. I was struck on the head and forehead, and once just above my eye. After taking me to Alipore police station, cops told me to lie down with my face to the ground. Then they tied up my legs and rained lathis on my feet, scars of which could disappear in around a week. They wanted me to cry, but they failed. I kept reciting the Gurbani through the ordeal. Then I was taken to another police station where I was abused, things I can’t repeat. They were calling names to my religious identity and the protesting farmers. “However, there was a kind-hearted policeman who gave me a blanket when he saw me shivering in a T-shirt and kachhera (traditional Sikh shorts), as rest of my clothes were torn when police pulled me and thrashed me. Till next afternoon (January 30) that blanket was my only shield from cold. Before being taken to court, I was given a pyjama and an old coat. It was later in Tihar jail that DSGMC president Manjinder Singh Sirsa brought me some clothes. He had reached police station and then court, too,” Ranjit said. “In Tihar jail, I was punched in the back, where I had internal injuries from January 31. For a couple of days, jail staff would also taunt me, but then they stopped,” he said.

The Times of India

2021-03-22

Chandigarh