The protesting farmers have put on hold their ‘Delhi Chalo’ march for two days after one of their members was killed in clashes at Khanauri on the Punjab-Haryana border on Wednesday evening.
The protesters alleged that the farmer died during police action and said they will decide the next course of action on Friday evening. They claimed that Haryana Police personnel fired rubber bullets, besides tear gas shells, at them.
The deceased has been identified as Subhkaran Singh (21), a resident of Baloke village in Punjab's Bathinda district.
"Three patients have come to us from Khanauri. One of them was dead on arrival, the other two are stable and seem to have sustained bullet injuries... but it can't be confirmed," Patiala-based Rajindra Hospital's medical superintendent H.S. Rekhi said, reported NDTV.
Meanwhile, a Haryana Police officer said around 12 police personnel were injured when they were attacked with lathis and stones thrown at them in Khanauri.
The farmers’ organisations condemned the death of the protester and said the incident has exposed the “brutality” of the Narendra Modi government.
"The BJP government in Haryana led by Manohar Lal Khattar is treating protesting farmers—who are marching towards Delhi— like enemy soldiers and is carrying out war-like operations," the All-India Kisan Sabha said in a statement.
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) said that the government which failed to implement the agreement signed on December 9, 2021, was solely responsible for the present crisis and the causality.
Thousands of farmers remain camped at Khanauri and Shambhu with their tractor-trolleys and trucks agitating for their demands, including a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP) for crops and farm debt waiver.
Heavy earthmoving equipment, including excavators, and modified tractors were seen at the protest sites, and police had cautioned that these might be used to break barricades and cause harm to security personnel.
