HC DIRECTIVE ON ‘BONDS WITH HEFTY SUM’

LUCKNOW : The Allahabad HC on Tuesday asked the UP government on Tuesday to stop various district administrations in the state from seeking personal bonds with exorbitant sums from tractor-owning farmers, including women, to prevent them from participating in the protest against the central farm laws. The bench gave the order while disposing of a PIL of a Sitapur native.

: The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday asked the Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday to stop various district administrations in the state from seeking personal bonds with exorbitant sums from tractorowning farmers, including women, to prevent them from participating in the protest against the central farm laws.

A Lucknow bench issued the order on Additional Advocate General V K Sahi’s oral undertaking to the court that he would convey to the government to stop district magistrates and sub-divisional magistrates from demanding personal bonds with hefty amounts from farmers.

The court trusts the AAG’s statement, the bench justices Ramesh Sinha and Rajeev Singh said, noting down the state’s law officer’s undertaking.

The bench gave the order while disposing of a public interest lawsuit of Sitapur native Arundhuti Dhuru, who had accused the district administration from demanding personal bonds of Rs 50,000 to Rs 10 lakh from the tractor-owning farmers with two sureties of the same amount. In response to the court’s query earlier, the law officer appeared before it on Tuesday and informed it that notices were withdrawn because the apprehension did not persist any longer. He also assured the court to instruct the authorities not to repeat such acts.

The bench, however, observed that the law officer’s response could not satisfy it as to why the authorities had demanded personal bonds with such huge amounts and sureties with similar amounts for keeping peace and security in the district.

The court, however, disposed of the petition, trusting that the Sitapur DM and SDMs will not repeat such an act in future.

The petitioner had alleged that Sitapur DM and SDMs had issued notices to tractor-owning farmers on January 19 and subsequently under the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code in the apprehension of breach of peace by them.