Amid the ongoing agitation against the three farm laws laid down by Centre, the Police in Haryana have charged over 100 farmers with sedition after allegedly attacking and damaging the official vehicle of Deputy Speaker Ranbir Gangwa during a protest against members of the state's ruling BJP-Jannayak Janata Party alliance.
According to a NDTV report, the incident took place on July 11 in Sirsa district of Haryana and a FIR was filed on the same day.
Not just sedition but ion the FIR filed, the farmers have also been charged with 'attempt to muder'. Among those named in the FIR are Harcharan Singh and Prahlad Singh - two leaders of the farmers' movement.
Samyukt Kisan Morcha, one of the protesting groups, yesterday in a statement slammed the charges, calling them "false, frivolous and cooked up" and vowing to contest them in court.
In of its statement, the group said, "Farmer leaders Harcharan Singh and Prahlad Singh and around 100 farmers have been booked under false cases... with grave charge of sedition... merely because they were protesting against Haryana Deputy Speaker in Sirsa."
"SKM strongly condemns false, frivolous and cooked-up sedition charges, and indeed all other charges, against farmers and farmer leaders under instructions of the anti-farmer BJP government of Haryana," it added.
Notably, the charges of sedition comes hours after the Supreme Court described the law "colonial", and asked the government if it is "still necessary after 75 years of Independence". The law is a threat to the functioning of institutions and holds "enormous power" for misuse with no accountability for the executive, the court said.
"If a police officer wants to fix anybody in a village for something, he can use Section 124 A... People are scared," a top court bench led by Chief Justice NV Ramana said.
Over the past few days, Haryana farmers have been demonstrating in Fatehabad, Jhajjar, Hisar and Yamunanagar leading to clashes with the police.
Meanwhile, Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait on Tuesday told that the farmers protest against Centre's three laws will continue. He said, "we will go to Delhi on July 22 and sit outside the Parliament and alleged that the Centre is not willing for talks."
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