Farmers Call Off Protest After Haryana Govt Orders Judicial Probe Into Karnal Incident

The state government also sent IAS officer Ayush Sinha, who is at the center of a row over his remarks on leave till completion of the inquiry.

Photo Courtesy: ANI

Karnal: The farmers protesting outside the Karnal district headquarters called off their sit-in on Saturday after the Haryana government ordered a judicial probe into the clash between farmers and police on August 28.

The state government also sent IAS officer Ayush Sinha, who is at the center of a row over his remarks on leave till completion of the inquiry.

READ: Karnal Protest: Deadlock Between Farmers & Haryana Govt Ends, Probe On August Lathi-Charge Ordered

A judicial probe will be conducted into the August 28 incident by a retired High Court judge, said Haryana Additional Chief Secretary Devender Singh.

He added the probe will be completed within a month and Sinha will remain on leave during the time.

The Additional Chief Secretary further said the meeting between the government officials and farmer leaders was held in a positive atmosphere.

Stating that it was a “respectable agreement”, he called the farmers as “our brothers”.

The Additional Chief Secretary also said that jobs would be given to two family members of a farmer, who, the protesters claimed, died after being injured during the baton charge.

“The Haryana government will give jobs to two family members of deceased farmer Satish Kajal under sanctioned posts at DC rate in Karnal,” he said, PTI reported.

A joint press conference was held in Karnal by the officials of Haryana government and farmer leader Gurnam Singh Chaduni after the two sides reached an agreement.

Chaduni while speaking at the joint press conference said they will call off their sit-in outside the Karnal district headquarters.

Commenting on the Karnal Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM), he said the farmers had demanded that an FIR be registered against him and the police personnel involved in the August 28 incident.

“But if the FIR is registered after a retired judge of the high court held an inquiry, there is neither any chance of its cancellation nor of influencing the probe,” he added.

Chaduni further said that they had demanded jobs for two family members of the deceased farmer Satish Kajal, adding the administration accepted it.

Earlier on August 28, at least 10 protesters were hurt in clash with the police personnel in Karnal when they tried to march towards the venue of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) meeting.

The Karnal SDM was caught on tape allegedly telling policemen to “break the heads” of the farmers if they cross the line.

The farmers had been demanding suspension of the 2018-batch IAS officer.

The state government had earlier on September 2 transferred Sinha out of Karnal and posted him as the Additional Secretary of Citizen Resources Information Department.