Peasant protest: Delhi police had identified 17 of 54 cases for withdrawal. (File)
New Delhi:
The Delhi government has given its approval to withdraw 17 cases, including one related to last year’s Republic Day violence, registered in Delhi during the protests against the agricultural law, a senior government official said on Tuesday.
He said the file related to the cases was sent by the office of Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal to Home Affairs Minister Satyendar Jain of Delhi on January 31.
It was approved by Mr. Jain and sent to the Chief Minister’s office on 25 February. The CMO sent the file to the LG office on Feb. 28, and the LG approved it on the same day, the officer said.
Delhi Police had identified 17 of the 54 cases registered for withdrawal between November 2020 and December 2021.
One of the cases is related to about 200-300 protesters and 25 tractors reaching the Red Fort and entering the site through the Lahori gate, resulting in damage to ticket counters, door frame metal detector and baggage scanners at the monument.
Another case was registered at Jyoti Nagar Police Station in northeast Delhi against protesting farmers entering Delhi from the UP Loni border, riding 150-175 tractors and allegedly hindering police officers from performing their duty and attacked them.
The protesting farmers in tractor convoys had entered the national capital on Republic Day last year, leading to violence and vandalism on the roads and at the Red Fort in the walled city.
Most of the cases were recorded for violations of COVID-19 protocols and guidelines by the protesters during their more than a year-long anti-agricultural law riot at the Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur borders in Delhi.
The protesters, mainly from Punjab and Haryana, laid siege to the borders of Delhi in November 2020, demanding that the Center repeal the three agricultural laws. The protest ended in December 2021 after Modi’s government repealed agricultural laws.
The center had also agreed to the demand of the incendiary farmers, who protested under the umbrella organization – Samyukta Kisan Morcha – for the withdrawal of cases registered against them between November 2020 and December 2021.
In a letter dated December 9, 2021, the Center had stated that it had agreed to immediately withdraw the cases against the protesters and their supporters registered during the peasant riot.
Following this, on December 11, 2021, the SKM had lifted the siege at the border points of the national capital and elsewhere in Haryana and Punjab.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)
