The news of farmers being booked under Sedition law came hours after the Supreme Court called it a “colonial” law.
After they allegedly attacked and damaged the official vehicle of Deputy Speaker Ranbir Gangwa, Police in Haryana have charged over 100 farmers with sedition. The incident had reportedly taken place in Haryana’s Sirsa on July 11 during a protest against members of the state’s ruling BJP-Jannayak Janata Party alliance and the controversial new farm laws. The FIR was registered on the same day.
Other than sedition, the farmers have also been charged with ‘attempt to murder’. Two leaders of the farmers’ movement – Harcharan Singh and Prahlad Singh – were among those named in the FIR.
The Sanyukta Kisan Morcha(SKM), an umbrella body of several farmers’ unions protesting against the new farm laws, released a statement slamming the charges against farmers. The SKM called the charges “false, frivolous and cooked up”, vowing to contest them in court.
“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,” the statement said.
“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.”
The news of farmers being booked under Sedition law came hours after the Supreme Court called it a “colonial” law and asked the centre why do we need such a law that was used against freedom fighters like Mahatma Gandhi and Bal Gangadhar Tilak.
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