THREE MORE FIRS REGISTERED

ROHTAK: The Jat community has been holding protests in 20 districts of Haryana for 27 days.

While there has been agreement on some demands, talks with the government have hit stalemate whenever the issue of withdrawing cases against those booked for last year’s Jat stir has come up. Police had registered 2,200 cases in connection with the February violence.

Jat community is seeking cancellation of all these cases. Instead of cancellations, 3 more cases have landed in their kitty.

While two Jat leaders were slapped with charges of sedition, one has been booked for promoting caste-based enmity and spreading false rumours. The Jat protesters got so upset with the registration of these cases that they hounded mediapersons for reporting the ‘beheading remark’ against Narendra Modi by one of their protesters, taking cognisance of which the police had booked him.

However, Jat leader Yashpal Malik on Friday said the police was slapping “wrong charges” on Jats to vitiate the atmosphere. “We, too, condemn the beheading remark that was made by mistake. The protestor even apologised immediately. The police could have, at most, charged him under Section 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC,” Malik said. .

Having faced flak for not being able to control violence last year, police have been relatively strict this time. “By registering these cases, we are telling them that there is a line that they will not be allowed to cross ,” a senior police official, not wanting to be named, said.