The Supreme Court will hear on Monday a PIL moved by Agnostos Theos, MD of Sikh Chamber of Commerce on Kisan Andolan to remove all barricading on borders and stop violence against farmers. The PIL also seeks unblocking of social media accounts and FIRs against government officials indulging in illegal acts against farmers.
The petitioner has moved the top court seeking directions to the Centre and State governments of Haryana, Punjab, NCT of Delhi, and Madhya Pradesh to consider the reasonable demands of protesting farmers.
The farmers started the Delhi Chalo March in February, seeking law guaranteeing Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops, among other things. The petition further asks the court to pass directions to the National Human Rights Commission to enquire and submit a report on alleged human rights violations by the Police against the protesting farmers.
Agnostos Theos has stated in his petition that what the farmers are demanding has been recommended by the National Commission on Farmers (NCF), constituted under the chairmanship of Professor M.S. Swaminathan. The Swaminathan committee has recommended that MSP should be at least 50% more than the weighted average cost of production, the petition said.
The petition also highlights the incident of the death of a young farmer, who reportedly died on February 21, after the Haryana Police allegedly fired at him on the Khanauri border.
The deadlock between farmers and the Centre over their various demands remains unsolved as the farmers rejected the February 18 offer by the Centre.
The 'Delhi Chalo' march, led by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM), was started to pressure the government into fulfilling their demands primarily seeking law for MSP and loan waiver for famers.