Farmers Movement Archive

Clash at UP Gate: Ghaziabad police book 200 unidentified farmers

Ghaziabad: The Ghaziabad police have booked 200 unidentified members of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) in connection with an incident on Wednesday in which a group of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters and farmers protesting the Centre’s three farm laws had allegedly clashed at UP Gate on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway (DME). Police said that they received complaints from both the groups, but prima facie found that the farmers’ group was the “aggressor” during the incident. The FIR was registered at Kaushambi police station under IPC sections for rioting, use of criminal force to any person otherwise than on grave and sudden provocation, voluntarily causing hurt, and causing damages and criminal intimidation, police said. As per the FIR, unidentified suspects armed with sticks and swords attacked the BJP workers at the UP Gate and damaged their vehicles. “The FIR was registered against 200 unidentified farmers on the basis of complaint given to us. The farmers’ group also gave a complaint to us, but they seemed to be the aggressor group. So, their complaint was not registered. We held discussions with them on Thursday and will soon decide future course of action over their complaint,” said Gyanendra Kumar Singh, superintendent of police (city 2). “We have started an investigation in the case and are also trying to scan the available video and CCTV footages,” he added. The BKU said that they will launch a statewide protest against the “biased” police action. “Our farmers will protest at police stations across the state against the biased action. The incident on Wednesday was pre-planned and aimed to malign the farmers’ movement. They (BJP workers) came to our site area and the FIR was lodged against us. We condemn this,” said Dharmendra Malik, national media in-charge of BKU.The two groups had allegedly clashed when the BJP supporters were waiting on the Delhi-Ghaziabad carriageway of the Delhi-Meerut Expressway to welcome a party leader who was to arrive from Delhi. The BJP supporters had alleged that unidentified farmers came from the other side of the DME and attacked them. Sanjeev Sharma, BJP city unit president, could not be contacted for a comment despite repeated attempts.Meanwhile, the farmers’ leaders said that the BJP workers were waving their party flags near to the camp of the farmers’ protest site and their cadres later started waving black flags in retaliation. In the melee, several BJP supporters, including women, suffered injuries and some of their vehicles were damaged, the BJP supporters alleged. However, the farmers’ leaders said that the BJP workers damaged their vehicles on their own and were trying to malign the “peaceful” protest by the farmers. “Our protest has remained peaceful. We came to know that police have not registered our complaint, but registered a case against our farmers. We will intensify our protest against this, and a decision will soon be taken in a meeting of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha. The FIR against farmers is uncalled for and the action is biased,” said Jagtar Singh Bajwa, UP Gate site spokesperson of Samyukta Kisan Morcha. The farmers are protesting at the UP Gate site since November 26 last year and demanding rollback of the three new farm laws and a new law on minimum support price.

Hindustan Times

01-07-2021

Noida