Farmers Movement Archive

Surjewala defends farmer who trolled CM

Jind: Congress general secretary and media wing in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala appeared in a local court on Wednesday to move the bail application of a farmer who was arrested on May 29 for trolling Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar. Additional sessions judge (fast track and special court) Gurvinder Kaur has once dismissed the bail petition. Farmer Dalbir Singh of Jind district’s Bibipur village was booked under sections 294 (obscene songs), 500 (punishment for defamation), 504 (insult to provoke breach of peace), 505 (1) (statements of public mischief) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). His 2016 sedition case from the Jat agitation, when he had commented against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Haryana CM, was clubbed with the current matter. Moved the bail application, Surjewala claimed that the Haryana government had implicated the farmer because he had joined the Tikri border agitation. He argued that all the IPC sections applied, except 505 (1), were bailable, and the man had no role in circulating or publishing the YouTuber’s posts. Surjewala said the man had neither called a press conference nor made a public statement. He claimed: "While the YouTuber was shooting in his field, Dalbir was busy sowing cotton." The ASJ dismissed Surjewala’s arguments.

The Times of India

2021-06-10

Chandigarh