The Noida police on Tuesday afternoon arrested nearly 150 farmers who tried marching to Delhi a day earlier and camped overnight at the Rashtriya Dalit Prerna Sthal in Noida after being stopped at the Chilla border by Delhi Police. The police action on Tuesday triggered congestion on the Noida Expressway from 1pm to 4.30pm, traffic police said, adding that vehicles had to be briefly diverted away from the spot.
On Monday, nearly 4,000 farmers from Noida, Greater Noida and surrounding districts marched to Delhi under the banner of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), All Indian Kisan Sabha (AIKS), and other farmer groups to press their demands for additional compensation for their land acquired by the government for development work. But they could not enter the national capital, as a heavy contingent of Delhi Police stopped the march at Chilla border.
While most protesters returned home by Monday evening, a group of them camped at Dalit Prerna Sthal on Monday night, said police, adding that the protesters came prepared with mattresses, blankets, utensils and other cooking items with an aim to prolong the protest at the sthal.
But on Tuesday, around 1pm, a heavy police force, including several senior officers, reached Dalit Prerna Sthal and arrested the protesters and moved them to Luksar jail in Kasna in roadways buses.
Additional commissioner of police (law and order) Shiv Hari Meena told PTI that they arrested more than 160 protesters under Section 170 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS). The provision allows the police to carry out arrests to prevent the commission of a cognisable offence.
Among the arrested were women and several farmer leaders such as Khalifa and Pawan Khatana, the state president of Bharatiya Kisan Union (western Uttar Pradesh), according to police.
Farmers, including women, were brought to Luksar jail in five to six buses around 2pm. “Over 112 farmers were sent to jail around 6.50pm. They will reside in the jail barracks, while the women were allowed to go home,” said a senior officer of Luksar Jail, asking not to be named.
Condemning the police action, the SKM said it was a violation of their constitutional rights to peacefully protest and urged the judiciary to intervene.
In a statement, the farmers’ collective claimed the police had arrested “hundreds of farmers, including more than 100 women” and forcibly evicted protesters from the site.
The SKM alleged that the police “violated the consensus reached with the farmer leaders on December 2, wherein the officials had asked for seven days to allow the “chief secretary of Uttar Pradesh to discuss and resolve the demands”.
“Several police officers equipped with anti-riot gear arrived and detained the farmers. They forcefully pushed farmers inside roadway buses and took them away,” said Sunil Pradhan, spokesperson of BKU-Tikait, adding that he somehow managed to escape the spot.
To facilitate the crackdown, Noida police blocked the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway for more than half an hour from 1pm, which led to congestion. “We as commuters are facing the heat of protest. We lost hours stuck in the congestion,” said Paras Kumar, an expressway commuter.
Traffic flow remained affected till 4pm due to heavy presence of police and media vehicles near gate number 2 of Dalit Prerna Sthal.
“We diverted traffic briefly around 1pm and additional traffic police personnel were deployed to clear congestion. Traffic flow was normalised by Tuesday evening,” said Lakhan Singh Yadav, deputy commissioner of police, traffic.
Meanwhile, following the mass arrests, Bhartiya Kisan Union-Tikait organised an emergency meeting in Muzaffar Nagar. Farmer leader Rakesh Tikait also urged farmers to gather at Greater Noida’s zero point on Wednesday to participate in a maha-panchayat over the police crackdown.
