A 53-year-old farm labourer protesting at the Khanauri border since the launch of the ‘Dilli Chalo’ agitation was found hanging in a tent at the camp Wednesday morning, police said. Protesting farmers said this is the first suicide at the border and the 27th death since February 13, when the agitation started.
Baljinder Singh, the chowki in-charge under Tharua police station, Patran, who visited the spot said, “Primary facie it’s a suicide case. The body is at Patran government hospital. We are taking action as per section 194 (police to enquire and report on suicide, etc.) of the BNSS.”
A member of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Sidhupur), Gurmeet Singh, a resident of Thuthianwala village in Mansa, a landless farm labourer, had come to Khanauri on February 13 when the protest morcha was started and never returned his home since then, farmers at the camp said.
According to farmers, no one was in the tent in the morning around 8, everyone was busy doing daily chores. When some farmers returned to the tent around 8.30 am, they found Gurmeet hanging, they said.
“Gurmeet was taken to a nearby government hospital in Patran, Patiala, but was pronounced dead upon arrival,” BKU (Sidhupur) senior leader Kaka Singh Kotda said.
Kotda said, “The postmortem will be done when government assures us about compensation and a job for a family member. We are talking to the administration.”
Tejveer Singh, spokesperson of the Shaheed Bhagat Singh (Haryana), part of the morcha, said, “This is the first suicide and 27th death since February 13.”
“Gurmeet used to look after the electric supply at the morcha. A few days ago, he asked me if the government would listen to farmers’ demands… This is high time for the government to wake up,” said BKU (Sidhupur) president Jagjit Singh Dallewal, also coordinator of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political).
Gurmeet is survived by his wife Paramjeet Kaur, daughter Dasmanpreet Kaur (27) and two sons — Satkartar Singh (25) and Prabhjot Singh (19).
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