Farmers Movement Archive

Karnal SDM who made ‘crack heads of farmers’ remark transferred

CHANDIGARH: The Haryana government on Wednesday transferred Karnal sub-divisional magistrate (SDM-civil) Ayush Sinha, who was recently caught on camera directing police to hit protesting farmers on their head if they breached the security cordon. The 2018-batch IAS officer was transferred out of Karnal and posted as additional secretary of Citizen Resources Information Department (CRID), as per a government order. The CRID has been dealing with some of the flagships programmes of the government, the progress of which is personally monitored by chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar.Sinha is among 19 IAS officers who were either transferred or given additional charge, the government order read. The transfer order came a day after the state government sought a report from Karnal deputy commissioner on the alleged video that surfaced after police action on protesting farmers at Bastara toll plaza on Saturday. Chief secretary Vijai Vardhan has reportedly asked the deputy commissioner to also take into account Sinha’s version of events while preparing the report. In the video clip, Sinha was heard instructing a group of policemen: “Utha utha ke maarna peeche sabko (hit them hard)…We shall not allow this cordon to be breached. We have enough force available. We haven’t slept for the past two days. But you have come here after taking some sleep…Mere paas ek bhi banda nikal ke nahi aana chahiye. Agar aaye toh sar foota hua hona chahiye uska. Clear hai aapko (No one should break the cordon and reach me. If someone does, make sure he has a broken head. Hope this is clear).”The IAS officer, however, alleged the video was edited and consisted only of selected portions of his overall instructions to the cops.Police had used force on the protesters when farmers allegedly tried to march towards the venue of the BJP meeting, in which the chief minister and other senior BJP leaders from the state were present.While the chief minister admitted that Sinha’s choice of words was wrong, he defended the police action against the protesting farmers. Deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala also condemned Sinha’s instructions to the police and assured action against the officer. The Samyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of farmers’ outfits spearheading the stir against the farm laws, had said a murder case should be registered against Sinha and sought his dismissal from service. The Morcha had fixed September 6 as the deadline to meet its demands while threatening to lay siege to the Karnal mini-secretariat.The Congress, meanwhile, called for a judicial inquiry by a sitting judge of the high court or a retired judge into the lathicharge incident, in which around 10 farmers were injured.

Hindustan Times

02-09-2021

India