Punjab police files murder case in Shubhkaran death incident, father alleges bullet came from Haryana side

In his complaint, Charanjeet said that he, along with his son and other villagers Kuldeep Singh and Gurvinder Singh, was in a trolley at Khanauri on February 21 when Haryana security forces began tear gas shelling. Charanjeet further said, “Afterwards, we went into nearby fields, but shelling continued towards that side as well. Soon, farmer leaders instructed us to sit in the trolleys, and as we started walking, Shubhkaran, who was a little ahead of me, was hit by a bullet at the back of his head. He fell and was taken to Khanauri hospital, where doctors declared him dead after about an hour. I request authorities to take strict action against the culprits as per the IPC sections.”

Earlier, Shubhkaran’s family and farmer union leaders had turned down Punjab government’s compensation of Rs 1 crore and a government job, saying they wanted the guilty to be punished.

The protester who died at Khanauri border has been identified as Shubhkaran Singh.

This had resulted in  a deadlock with the family refusing to perform the last rites of  the youth.

Soon after the FIR, a team of doctors at the Rajindra Medical College, Patiala,  began the post-mortem of Shubhkaran. His last rites are likely to be performed tomorrow.

Earlier, the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) and the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) — the two farmer unions under which the Dilli Chalo agitation at Shambhu and Khanauri borders entered the 16th day Wednesday — said that they would announce their next course of action Thursday afternoon.

In a related development, the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha leaders shared their successful 2020-21 agitation experience in a letter to Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) and called for  a united struggle at the national level. They highlighted key points such as joint coordination, common demands, targeting the central government, nationwide participation, peaceful mobilization, secular character, unity against instigating forces, and a strategic approach for victory. The response from KMM and SKM (Non-Political) is awaited.

Earlier Wednesday, leaders of both unions met the family of Shubhkaran.

“We will announce our next course of action Thursday afternoon. We have been sitting peacefully since the launch of the agitation, but the Haryana government is injuring our farmers. If the French President (Emmanuel Macron) can listen to their farmers, why can’t our Prime Minister? We call ourselves the biggest democracy in the world!” KMM coordinator Sarvan Pandher said after the meeting.

Pandher told The Indian Express, “We have with us the revenue records of the bridge where Shubhkaran was killed and the area falls in Punjab, both Punjab and Haryana governments are playing with the sentiments of the farmers.”

Meanwhile, Davinder Singh, the father of Preetpal Singh, has written to Punjab Health Minister Dr Balbir Singh demanding security for his son, who is admitted to the PGI, Chandigarh. “I am getting threats from Haryana Police, asking me not to speak against them or they will book my son and lodge him in jail,” Preetpal said.

Even after the deaths of six farmers and injuries to nearly 170 in the past 16 days of agitation, farmers are still holding the fort at Shambhu and Khanauri borders putting up in trollies with sandbags around. “It protects us from the teargas shelling,” Gurvinder Singh, a farmer at Shambhu, said.