NAWANSHAHR: To investigate the farmers who were allegedly tortured during the ongoing farmers' agitation against the contentious farm laws of the Center, the Punjab Vidhan Sabha Committee today met the aggrieved farmer from the district, Ranjit Singh, here and recorded his statements.
At the local Panchayat Samiti guest house, the chairman of the committee and MLA of Gill constituency Kuldeep Singh Vaid and committee member and MLA Harinderpal Singh Chandumajra talked in detail with the aggrieved farmer and recorded his statement. Speaking to the media on the occasion, the Chairman of the Committee Kuldeep Singh Vaid said that a committee of five MLAs from all the parties of the Vidhan Sabha was constituted by the Speaker of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha to present a detailed report on the atrocities committed on the farmers during the ongoing farmers' agitation.
Apart from him, Harinderpal Singh Chandumajra, Kulbir Singh Jeera, Fateh Jang Singh Bajwa and Sarabjit Kaur Manuke are the members of the Committee. He said that this committee was visiting various districts of Punjab to gather the facts. He said that instead of summoning the aggrieved farmers to Chandigarh, the committee had decided to personally go to the districts and record the statements of the farmers who had been booked or jailed by the police during the agitation.
He said that the torture of farmers in Delhi Police Station or Tihar Jail would be exposed in this report and in next four weeks this committee would submit its report and also recommend appropriate action. He said that this was the fifth such meeting of the committee and earlier such meetings had been held in Ludhiana, Moga, Bathinda and Mansa districts and so far statements of 37 farmers had been recorded. He said that the committee would also hold meetings with the aggrieved farmers in Jalandhar, Sangrur, Amritsar and Gurdaspur districts in the coming days and any aggrieved farmer tortured by the Delhi police could record his statement with the Committee. He said that the torture meted out to the farmers by the Delhi Police was highly reprehensible and the Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh was taking the issue very seriously. He assured that full justice would be ensured to the victims.
Speaking on the occasion committee member Harinderpal Singh Chandumajra said that the atrocities committed by the police on the agitating farmers and the mistreatment in the jails was extremely shameful and shocking, which deserves strongest condemnation. He said that the details of this torture and misconduct would be revealed in the report.
On this occasion Additional Secretary Home Affairs Punjab Baldeep Kaur, AIG Crime Surinderjit Kaur, Vidhan Sabha Coordinating Officer Gurkirat Singh, SDM Nawanshahr Jagdish Singh Johal, DSP Swainder Pal Singh, Tehsildar Baljinder Singh and other officials were present.
It needs to be mentioned here that Ranjit Singh, 22, of Kajampur village in Nawanshahr district had emerged as the 'bloody face' of farmers' agitation in Delhi when pictures of his bleeding face crushed under a cop’s boot on Delhi’s Singhu border had appeared in the media after the Republic Day events in Delhi this year. The picture had shaken the country, particularly Punjabis, no end. This was an image that had reminded the world of George Floyd of Minneapolis, pinned to the ground with a cop’s knee over his neck for 9 minutes. Floyd’s death had sparked the global ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement.