The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed a petition concerning the safety and protection of farmers who are protesting at the borders of the point i.e. Singhu, Ghazipur, Tikri in the interest of justice. The bench comprising Chief Justice S.A. Bobde, Justices A.S. Bopanna and V. Ramasubramanian has listed the matter with connected matters relating to farm laws.
The petition has been filed by Advocate Sanpreet Singh Ajmani and others through Advocate Manju Jetley, who submitted that the atmosphere at the protest site is not hygienic as there is an interrupted supply of basic amenities such as food, water and electricity at the border point. Also, it is pertinent to mention that there are iron nails and cemented barricades that have been illegally installed to stop the farmer’s ingress and egress from the place of protest.
The petitioners have sought an apology from the media for spreading hate news against the entire farmers and Sikh community and hurting the religious sentiments of the entire community by terming them as terrorists and denoting their Nishaan Sahib (the holy flag of the Sikh community, which is hosted at all gurdwaras) as “Khalistani flag”.
The petition also mentions the incident that took place at the Red Fort where some farmers hoisted a flag. Even though such sinful acts were performed by some elements, the entire Sikh community is being blamed, criticized and defamed by some of the news channels.
The petitioners further submitted that the Government had prohibited/suspended internet facility at the borders where farmers are protesting which is a sheer violation of fundamental rights of a citizen while quoting the case Anuradha Bhasin v. Union of India (2020) 3 SCC 637.
The petitioners also referred to the death of farmer Navreet Singh during the protest, who had allegedly sustained gunshot injury, evident from various viral videos on social media. However, in his post-mortem report, the cause of death has been reported as “shock and hemorrhage as a result of ante-mortem head injury”.
The petitioners have hence prayed for the constitution of a judicial inquiry of missing farmers and a status report from the police.
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