Chandigarh: Punjab government on Monday decided to release 450 more farmers from police detention amid allegations from various farmer unions that several protesting farmers detained last week by the police are still missing.
It may be recalled that the Punjab police had detained a score of farmers and evicted all the protesting farmers from the Shambhu and Khanauri barrier protest sites on March 19, last, while various farmer unions alleged that several farmers and their various belongings including tractor trolleys, had gone missing since.
A farm union had also filed habeas corpus petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court demanding release and whereabouts of the missing farmers.
Stating that the state government has already released about 800 farmers from the police custody, Inspector General of Police, (IGP), Headquarters, Sukhchain Singh Gill, that the Punjab chief minister directed the immediate release of farmers including women, differently-abled individuals, farmers with medical conditions, and those above the age of 60.
“To address the concern about belonging of farmers, the Patiala district police has also appointed SP-rank officer Jasbir Singh, as the nodal officer for immediate assistance,” said Gill adding that Patiala police has also already registered three first information reports (FIRs) in this regard.
For record, while the police had evicted all the protesting farmers from the said two barriers where the farmers had been camping since February 13 last year to press for their demands including minimum support price (MSP) and debt waiver, the administration had also got the blockade cleared off on March 19 following which the traffic had resumed on the stretches of the national highways .
