Farmers Movement Archive

Court seeks reply in Singhu murder case

A local court in Sonipat on Monday directed the Haryana police to furnish a reply on invoking the Arms Act against the accused in the Singhu border murder case for wielding swords. All the four accused were remanded in judicial custody till November 8. The police said more arrests were likely. ‘Reply in a week’ Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Arvind Kumar directed the police to file a reply within a week. “Since the Nihang Sikhs are allowed to keep swords as per their religion, the court has directed the police to file a reply on the imposition of the Arms Act,” said accused’s counsel Yogesh. The court also directed the police to drop charges under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against three of the four accused since they belong to Scheduled Caste. “Except Govind Preet, the court has directed to drop charges against the three accused under the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act,” said Mr. Yogesh. Virender Singh, DSP, Law and Order, Sonipat, said the accused had identified more suspects during their police remand and more arrests could not be ruled out. He clarified that charges under the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act were invoked in the FIR since the accused were not named. Tied to barricade Lakhbir Singh, a resident of Punjab’s Tarn Taran, was found dead near the farmers’ protest site at the Singhu border in Haryana’s Sonipat on October 15, tied to a police barricade with his wrist and leg severed. Of the four accused, Sarabjit Singh, was the first to surrender a few hours after the murder. A day after his arrest three more accused — Narain Singh, Bhagwant Singh and Govind Preet — had surrendered before the police.

The Hindu

2021-10-26

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