Five days since the violence during the farmers’ tractor day parade on Republic Day, a host of police cases have been filed in multiple states, including Delhi, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. The Delhi Police have so far filed 38 cases and arrested 84 people in connection to the case.
Cases have been filed in five states so far, the latest being in Delhi on Saturday, against Congress Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor and six journalists over their allegedly “misleading” tweets on the violence and death of a protester during the farmers’ tractor rally in Delhi on Republic Day.
In addition to cases against journalists over the violence, police have also issued lookout notices against farmer leaders named in an FIR and invoked sedition charges in a case of the Red Fort incident.
Police file case against Shashi Tharoor, Rajdeep Sardesai across five states
Delhi
The Delhi Police has filed a case against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, senior journalist Rajdeep Sardesai, The Caravan magazine and others for allegedly misleading the public. The case has been registered at the IP Estate police station under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, police said.
Uttar Pradesh
Last week, Tharoor and six journalists had also been booked by the Noida Police for sedition, among other charges, over the violence during the farmers' tractor rally in Delhi, officials had said.
The FIR was lodged at the Sector 20 police station in Noida following a complaint by a resident who alleged that "digital broadcast" and "social media posts" by these people were responsible for the violence during a tractor rally by farmers in the national capital.
The journalists named in the FIR are Mrinal Pande, Rajdeep Sardesai, Vinod Jose, Zafar Agha, Paresh Nath and Anant Nath
According to The Indian Express, the complainant stated that the accused spread fake news about protester Navreet Singh’s death in Delhi on 26 January by blaming Delhi Police to “instigate violence”.
Navreet Singh died of head injuries when his tractor toppled after hitting a police barricade. The post mortem ruled out any bullet injuries. The complainant stated that the “accused” posted tweets that day and spread fake news about Singh’s death by calling it “killing”.
Haryana
Another similar case was filed in Gurugram against the same people for their allegedly “misleading” tweets on the violence and death of a protester during the farmers’ tractor rally in Delhi on Republic Day.
Karnataka
In Bengaluru, a social activist named Rakesh Shetty, alias Rakesh BS, filed a complaint of sedition, criminal conspiracy and other charges against the same six journalists and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor.
According to the complainant, the tweets by those named in the FIR amounted to incitement, damaging of national integrity, creation of enmity between different religious groups and division in society.
As per The New India Express, the FIR stated, “The tweets have spread hate and disrupted national integration by spreading hate between religions, besides hurting religious feelings.”
Madhya Pradesh
As per The Indian Express, four separate FIRs have been filed naming Tharoor and the six journalists for allegedly instigating farmers with unverified and unauthentic information for “personal and professional advantage” in Madhya Pradesh
The FIRs have been registered in Bhopal, Hoshangabad and Betul districts, based on written applications by complainants who have submitted almost similar applications.
Delhi Police detain journalist
On Saturday night, the Delhi Police detained a journalist from the Singhu border for allegedly misbehaving with a station house officer on duty at the protest site.
Mandeep Punia, a freelance journalist and contributor to the Caravan magazine, was detained while he was on an assignment to cover the clashes that broke out at Singhu on Friday.
Hours before his detention, Punia had posted a Facebook Live about the Singhu violence on Friday, detailing how men claiming to be locals had pelted stones at the protest site in full view of the police, reports The NewsMinute.
The police told PTI that some people, including Punia, were trying to remove the barricades put up to cordon off the site of farmers' protest at the Singhu border. The police have said that the journalist misbehaved with police personnel and was detained for the same.
Another journalist, Dharmender Singh from Online News India, was also picked by the police. The Indian Express reported that Singh was allowed to go later after he showed his identity card, while according to the Newslaundry, both Punia and Singh were taken to Alipur police station.
UP Police file FIR against journalist
The Uttar Pradesh Police has filed a case against The Wire’s Founding Editor Siddharth Varadarajan for tweeting an article published on the news website reporting that the farmer who was killed during a tractor rally on Republic Day had died in police firing.
The article, published on Friday, cited the family of Navreet Singh. They rejected the Delhi Police’s claims that the farmer had died after his tractor overturned. The family alleged that the man was shot.
The FIR was filed on a complaint by one Sanju Turaha, a resident of Rampur district, according to The Print.
On Saturday evening, the Rampur district magistrate had responded to Varadarajan’s tweet sharing the article. “We ardently request you to please let’s be sticking to facts and facts only,” he wrote. “We hope our request will be sincerely taken up by you.”
The official also attached a denial note by the three government medical officers who conducted the postmortem, claiming that none of them had spoken to anybody from the media, or made any statement about the autopsy.
Delhi Police issue lookout notices
Last week, on Wednesday, the police named as many as 37 farmer leaders, including Swaraj India President Yogendra Yadav and Bharatiya Kisan Union’s Haryana unit President Gurnam Singh Chaduni, in the first information report in connection with the violence.
The FIR also named social activist Medha Patkar and Bharatiya Kisan Union Spokesperson Rakesh Tikait, according to a copy viewed by Scroll.in.
Other farmer leaders who have been listed in the FIR are Darshan Pal, Gurnam Singh Chanduni, Kulwant Singh Sandhu, Satnam Singh Pannu, Joginder Singh Ugraha, Surjeet Singh Phool, Jagjeet Singh Dalewal, Balbir Singh Rajewal and Harinder Singh Lakhoval.
Police file 38 cases so far
The Delhi police have registered 38 FIRs so far. Nine of these 38 FIRs were transferred to the crime branch of the Delhi Police for investigation, reports Scroll.in. The Delhi Police have also appealed to the public, including media personnel, to help identify those behind the violence, by sharing videos or photos of the incident with them.
Police had asked nine farmer leaders to join the investigation in the case on Friday, but no one turned up.
According to officials, the special investigation team of Delhi Police has asked farmer leaders Rakesh Tikait, Pawan Kumar, Raj Kishore Singh, Tajender Singh Virk, Jitender Singh, Trilochan Singh, Gurmukh Singh, Harpreet Singh and Jagtar Singh Bajwa to join the investigation. The notices were forwarded through WhatsApp to them.
The tractor march by farmers protesting against the three recent agriculture laws had turned violent on 26 January, leading to chaotic scenes on the streets of the national capital on Republic Day.
While the police have alleged that farmer leaders made inflammatory speeches, and were involved in the violence during the tractor parade, farmers have denied the allegations and blamed “antisocial elements” for the chaos.
With inputs from PTI
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