Justice SN Aggarwal to head inquiry panel

COMMISSION WILL INQUIRE INTO THE ROLE OF THEN KARNAL SDM AYUSH SINHA WHOSE ‘CRACK FARMERS HEADS’ COMMENT HAD KICKED UP A ROW

CHANDIGARH: The Haryana cabinet on Wednesday approved the constitution of one-man commission of inquiry, headed by former Punjab and Haryana high court judge justice SN Aggarwal, to inquire into the sequence of events leading to violence including police lathi-charge on protesting farmers at Bastara toll plaza in Karnal on August 28.

The Commission will inquire into the circumstances leading up to and including the action by police at Karnal on August 28 and the use of force against the demonstrators.

The Commission will also find out the persons responsible for the violent situation and will inquire into the role of the then Karnal sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) Ayush Sinha, a 2018-batch IAS officer, in action by the cops.sinha was purportedly heard in a video instructing the cops to thrash farmers if they tried to breach the barricades near the spot where a BJP event was going on. Sinha later said that the video was edited and selective portions of his instructions were shown to create a controversy.haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar had admitted that the choice of Sinha’s words was not right.

“He (Sinha) should not have used such language though it is the job of officials to enforce law and order. I’m not saying he should not have enforced the rule of law strictly,” Khattar had said.the chief minister also clarified that Sinha was deputed at a spot about 10-12 kilometres away from the spot where the lathi-charge took place. The Commission will complete the inquiry and submit the report to the state government within a month from the date of publication of notification in the official gazette, an official spokesperson said.

The August 28 lathi-charge on protesting farmers who were allegedly trying to disrupt a BJP meeting had led to a standoff between the farmers’ organisations and the state government. The police said four farmers and 24 cops were injured in the clash.

The agitating farmers, led by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) leaders, on September 7 had laid a siege at the Karnal mini-secretariat.

The farmers demanded registration of a criminal case against IAS officer Ayush Sinha and compensation for injured farmers. Even as the talks remained inconclusive for a couple of days, a breakthrough was achieved when the state government deputed additional chief secretary Devender Singh to hold negotiations.the farmers called off the protest after the state government made a commitment to hold a judicial inquiry into the incident.