Image Credits - Times of India
Leader of the farmer movement Sarwan Singh Pandher has expressed grave concern and disapproval of the Punjab government’s seeming unwillingness to keep its word amid continuing discussions with farmers. The matter under discussion concerns the consequences of Shubhkaran Singh’s untimely demise. Pandher contends that although the government has acknowledged the requests, it has not moved swiftly enough.
Following an attack, farmer Shubhkaran Singh passed away from injuries sustained. The farmer leaders filed a case under Section 302 (murder) against the attackers in an attempt to bring them to justice. Singh’s body was left at the hospital for more than 14 hours, according to Pandher, who claims that although the Punjab Government had initially granted this request, they have subsequently postponed acting on it.
Speaking on the subject, Sarwan Singh Pandher said, “All of our demands were met, including registering a case under Section 302, giving Shubhkaran Singh the title of ‘martyr,’ talking with his family about compensation, and setting up a board for a postmortem using videography. However, the Punjab government’s protracted silence is disrespectful to our fellow farmer’s martyrdom.”
Pandher questioned whether the incident happened in Punjab or Haryana and voiced his displeasure with the government’s intent on looking into the incident’s location. Pandher claims that this delay is keeping them from carrying out Shubhkaran Singh’s final rituals. The leader of the farmers deemed this state of affairs “condemnable” and denounced the administration for undermining the sacrifices that farmers had made.
“The Punjab Government has not responded for almost 14 hours at this point. As of now, I don’t think we will be able to carry out Shubhkaran Singh’s final rituals. The discussions with the government of Punjab are still ongoing,” Pandher continued.
Concerns regarding the government’s commitment to keeping its word made during talks with farmer representatives have been raised by the incident. The family of Shubhkaran Singh is even more devastated by the delay in action, and it also calls into doubt the government’s sincerity in responding to the concerns of the farming community.
