Tikait defends farmers, denies any violent acts
NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait on Saturday defended the protesting farmers and denied they acted violently towards policemen after reports emerged of two police officers being assaulted at the Singhu border.
“They (the policemen) must have been in civil dress and farmers might have mistaken them for channel people (media) who portray their movement in a bad light. We don’t engage in violence,” Tikait told a news agency.
Tikait alleged that both the police and the government want to instigate farmers and that if cops have been visiting the protest site frequently contact should have been established with the protestors. “They can file an FIR (First Information Report) but there should be something to write in it,” Tikait said.
Two Special Branch officers were allegedly assaulted by a group of protesting farmers at
Singhu Border on June 10, Delhi Police said on Saturday. After a recent increase in the number of protesters coming from Panipat, Delhi Police officers from the Special Branch were reportedly conducting an on-ground analysis at the Narela border when the alleged incident occurred.
The two injured assistant sub-inspectors of the Special Branch were reportedly clicking pictures of the protest site when the alleged attack happened.
“A woman came to us and questioned what we were doing there. Then others came and surrounded us. They all seemed to be drunk. They attacked us.
My colleague sustained a fracture in his hand. Somehow we managed to save ourselves,” one of the police personnel told a news agency.
An FIR has been lodged at the Narela police station against unknown persons, reported a news agency.
The protest by the farmers against the new farm laws has been nearing 200 days and in order to intensify their agitation, the farmers have also announced a sit-in at Raj Bhavans across the country on June 26.