An elderly farmer was hit on the head and left bleeding on Saturday when police tried to stop protesting farmers from marching into Rohtak city in Haryana to oppose the visit of chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar.
A video and pictures of the farmer, Raj Singh, 73, his white kurta soaked in blood, were widely shared on social media. Another farmer and a policeman were injured too.
Khattar was to arrive in Rohtak, 70km northwest of Delhi, for a condolence meeting and word had spread that his helicopter would land at Baba Mastnath University in the afternoon.
A crowd of protesters, mostly farmers from the district, gathered outside the university to block the chief minister’s path.
The Khattar government had used lathis, water cannons and tear smoke against farmers and even dug up the highway to stop them from proceeding towards Delhi, in the last week of November, to demand repeal of three laws that the peasants see as their “death warrant”.
The chief minister later branded the protesters, who have been on a sit-in for more than four months, Khalistanis.
Furious, the farmers have been resisting visits by Khattar and his ministers across the state.
On Saturday, the chief minister’s helicopter landed at Police Lines, 6km from the university. When the farmers heard of this and attempted to breach barricades to move in that direction, stone-throwing began.
Mandeep Punia, journalist and activist, tweeted pictures and a video of Raj Singh who said the police had hit him.
Punia told The Telegraph: “The crowd was mostly made up of elderly farmers, including women, who had come directly from the fields when they heard of the protest. A lathi-charge began around 2pm when they moved towards the city. Stones were thrown from both sides (of the barricade) but the police started it. The eldest of the lot got it the worst as they were right in front of the police.”
He added: “Women farmers later climbed on police buses and raised slogans, condemning the violence. A farmer named Raj Singh (from Sanghi village) was bleeding from the head. As there was no first aid available, farmers tied a turban like a bandage on him. Another elderly farmer (Ishwar, 80, from Basantpur village) was injured in his leg. They were taken to Civil Hospital by the farmers themselves, where their wounds were bandaged properly. Thankfully, no fractures were suffered or stitches required.”
A constable has received stitches on his head for an injury from a projectile and is undergoing tests in hospital.
Videos show policemen chasing away protesters from the barricade with plastic batons amid light showers of stones.
Rohtak superintendent of police Rahul Sharma told this newspaper: “We acted in a most restrained manner and prevented more than 400 protesters from entering the city where there would have been chaos. Most of them had stopped at the barricade. We were negotiating with the rest when some rowdy elements from the protesters’ side began stone pelting that injured both farmers and police personnel. Only minimum force was used to disperse them. There was not any lathi-charge, nor was tear smoke or water cannons used — as is done during riot control.”
He added: “They were given first aid in an ambulance stationed at the spot, but refused further treatment saying they would go to the hospital on their own.”
Farmers have blocked a part of the highway to Chandigarh in Jind district to protest the police action in Rohtak.
On Thursday and Friday, deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala had faced larger protests in Hisar that prevented him from going to his home in the city or completing a scheduled visit to the grain market.
