The police said four people have been arrested after a case was registered. (Representational)
Kurukshetra:
The Haryana Police arrested four people today, a day after protesting farmers gheraoed BJP MP Nayab Singh Saini’s car, smashing its windscreen as he tried to leave a party worker’s house.
Kurukshetra MP Saini on Tuesday said the police had a tough time in extricating him out of the mob of protesters at Shahbad Markanda, 20 km from Kurukshetra.
The police said four people have been arrested after a case was registered under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code, including those of attempt to murder, rioting, unlawful assembly and wrongful restraint.
“Four were arrested on Wednesday and produced before the local court which sent them to judicial custody for 14 days,” a police official said.
While ten people have been named in the case, around eight are unidentified.
The police said video footage of the incident shows the protesters surrounding the MP’s car, jumping onto its bonnet and breaking the windscreen.
A large number of farmers today held a demonstration in front of the police station Shahbad Markanda to protest the arrest of four men, stated to the Bharatiya Kisan Union members.
A large contingent of the police force had to be deployed around the police station building and its doors were closed. As the police station is situated on the service lane of the National Highway-44 (GT Road), the traffic remained blocked on the service lane.
The agitating farmers gathered at Udham Singh Smarak Park on the GT road as soon as four farmers were rounded up by the police.
The farmers proceed towards the police station waving black flags and raising anti-government slogans. They staged a dharna and demanded their release.
Describing the attack on Mr Saini as “murderous”, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had on Tuesday said that it is the democratic right of farmers to hold a protest but violence will not be tolerated.
Farmers protesting over the three farm laws were sitting on a dharna in front of Jannayak Janta Party MLA Ram Karan Kala’s residence on Tuesday when they learnt that Mr Saini had reached a BJP worker’s house in nearby Majri mohalla.
They then gathered outside the BJP worker’s home while Mr Saini had tea inside, the police said earlier.
Mr Saini said that when he sat in the vehicle and tried to leave the place, over 50 protesters gheraoed it. A few of them jumped over the vehicle’s bonnet while someone smashed the windscreen with a stone or a lathi.
He said it was with great difficulty that the police got him out of the area in the SUV.
The MP said those who indulge in acts of violence against elected representatives cannot be farmers. Such people are defaming farmers, he added.
On Saturday, farmers had held a protest against Mr Khattar in Rohtak, resulting in a lathi-charge by the police and forcing authorities to shift the landing site for his helicopter.
Meanwhile, to protest the alleged lathi-charge incident in Rohtak, the main opposition Congress staged protests at various district headquarters across the state on Wednesday.