Several farmer leaders, including Rakesh Tikait, also reached Hisar (File)
Hisar:
Thousands of farmers reached Hisar on Monday responding to their leaders’ calls to protest against the registration of a criminal case against several of them during their clash with the police last week after the inauguration of a Covid hospital.
The Haryana police had lodged a criminal case against around 350 unnamed farmers for allegedly attacking government employees during the protest against Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar shortly after he inaugurated a Covid hospital last week.
The farmers, who reached here from Hisar and many adjoining districts including Jind, Rohtak, Bhiwani, Karnal and Sonipat, gathered at Krantiman Park to demand the withdrawal of the case, lodged under the various heinous section, including the attempt to murder against farmers.
Several farmer leaders, including Rakesh Tikait, Joginder Singh Ugrahan and Gurnam Singh Chaduni also reached Hisar.
As some farmer leaders were addressing the protesters, the Hisar sub-divisional magistrate approached them, inviting them for talks with the administration.
Responding to the invite, Mr Tikait, Mr Chaduni and other farmer leaders reached the district’s mini secretariat for talks.
Talking to reporters earlier, farmer leaders demanded the quashing of the case against farmers.
Referring to the May 16 incident, Mr Tikait said senior police officials had assured that no case would be registered against farmers, but they went back on their words later.
After the registration of a case against them after the May 16 incident, farmer organisations had said they would gherao the Hisar police commissionerate on Monday to demand the withdrawal of the case and action against police personnel who allegedly lathi-charged them.
Farmers reached Hisar on Monday by buses, tractor-trolleys and other vehicles, leading to various roads in the city getting blocked during their arrival.
Ahead of farmers descending upon the city on Monday, Hisar was turned into a fortress with multi-layered security cordons thrown around vital installations like mini-secretariat, offices and residences of senior government and police officials in the city on Sunday.
The administration had deployed a large number of police personnel, including those from the Rapid Action Force (RAF), to deal with any untoward incident at various places in the city, police sources said.