"Don't bother the people": Supreme Court to protesting farmers

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Protesting farmers -- many of whom marched to Delhi today --- have been told to protest peacefully and not cause inconvenience to people. "In a democratic system, avoid blocking highways and causing inconvenience to people," the Supreme Court advised today, remarking that it was "not commenting on whether the protest is right or wrong".


The court's comment came during the hearing of a case of Punjab farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who was removed from the Khanauri protest site on the Punjab-Haryana border on November 26.
Disposing of the habeas corpus petition filed on his behalf, the Supreme Court said, "We have seen that he has been released. He also persuaded a fellow protester to end his fast unto death on Saturday".


"In a democratic system, you can hold peaceful protests, but do not inconvenience people. You all know that Khanauri border is the lifeline of Punjab," said the bench of judges Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan.


The court said the issue raised by the farmers has been noted and it is being considered in the pending case.


Farmers have been camping at the Sambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana since February 13. Dallewal, who was one of them, was allegedly forcibly removed from the Khanauri border and taken to a police station in Ludhiana hours before escalating his hunger strike to a fast unto death on November 26,.


From there, he was taken to a hospital and was discharged on Friday evening.


On November 29, a petition was filed in the top court challenging his alleged illegal detention by the Punjab police. A day after his release, Dallewal joined a hunger strike at the Khanauri border on November 30 to press the farmers' demands.


The protesters have accused the government of not taking steps to meet their demands and claimed it has not held any talks with them on the issues since February 18


Apart from a legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price, the farmers are demanding implementation of the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission, pension for farmers and farm labourers, farm loan waiver, restoration of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, and compensation to the families of farmers killed during the previous agitation in 2020-21.