Chandigarh: A 45-year-old farmer from Punjab, participating in the protest against the Centre’s farm laws at the Singhu border, allegedly hanged himself to death from a tree near the border, police said on Wednesday.
Identified as Gurpreet Singh, the victim was a resident of Fatehgarh Sahib district, they said.
The body has been sent to a local hospital in Sonipat for a post-mortem examination, a Kundli police station official said.
Farmer leader Balwant Singh said they got to know about the incident around 7 am.
“We got to know about the incident around 7 am. He was at the protest site here at the Singhu border for the last three to four months. The body has been handed over to the police for the autopsy,” he said.
Hundreds of farmers have been camping at Delhi borders since November 2020, demanding the repeal of the three laws — Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
They are also demanding a new law to guarantee the minimum support price (MSP) for crops.
The Centre, which has held 11 rounds of formal dialogue with farmers till now, has been insisting that the three laws are pro-farmer, while protesters have been claiming that the three enactments would leave them at the mercy of corporations.
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