Gurugram: Hansi saw its first Independence Day as a full-fledged Haryana district Saturday, and it did not go the way the new district administration would have wanted.
Hansi, carved out of Hisar, was announced as Haryana’s 23rd district by Saini on 16 December, 2025 and formally notified a week later.
Saturday’s flag-hoisting, in the presence of the chief minister, was to mark the district administration’s first major task. Instead, it played out against the backdrop of an agitation by local farmers demanding the arrest of the main accused in the murder of Hisar dairy owner Jeewan Kundu, who was beaten to death on 4 August.
As Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini arrived to hoist the tricolour at the local government college, videos began circulating of policemen turning on the very crowd they were meant to control—one of them a serving IPS officer caught on camera picking up stones and flinging them back at protesters, another an inspector reaching for a colleague’s AK-47 and swinging it toward the people gathered on the Sisai bridge.
The officer seen pelting stones has been identified as Vinod Kumar, a 2015-batch IPS officer and Superintendent of Police, Hansi, who was to escort the chief minister for the August 15 parade. He is seen in the video still in his uniform, the ceremonial Sam Browne belt across his chest, bending to pick up stones and hurling them at the crowd.
In a separate video, Kaptan Singh, an inspector who heads the Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) police station in Hansi, is seen in plain clothes trying to snatch an AK-47 from another policeman, also not in uniform, and swinging the barrel toward the protesters.
Saturday’s clash also saw SP Vinod Kumar and a deputy superintendent of police injured in stone-pelting. Several protesters were also injured in the police lathi-charge, even as Saini went ahead with the flag-hoisting at the government college under heavy security.
Kumar did not respond to calls from ThePrint. His PRO, Sandeep Sharma, instead shared a video of the SP’s press conference in Hansi after Saturday’s clash.
In it, Kumar defended the stone-throwing. “Han. Jhagde mein to, jab itni bheed thi. Vo loag pathhar maar rahe the to unhe tittar-bittar karne ke liye aisa karna padta hai,” he said.
(Yes. In the clash, when there was such a huge crowd, and they were pelting stones, we had to do this to disperse them.)
On the AK-47 incident, Kumar said it was true that policemen present, including his own gunman, were carrying the rifles, but insisted no one had fired or aimed a weapon at the crowd.
Kumar’s own admission has given Hansi’s protesters their punchline. Farmer Anoop Singh Chenot has floated an AI-generated poster of Vinod Kumar in uniform, mid-throw, stamped with a mock police helpline: “Bheed ko titar-bitar karne ke liye sampark karein—Zila Hansi Police.” (For crowd dispersal services, contact: Hansi District Police). It’s accompanied with a line underneath noting that the superintendent of police himself is a master of pelting stones.
The Jeewan Hatyakand Nyaya Sangharsh Samiti, the committee steering the protest over Kundu’s killing, has since written to the Director General of Police in Panchkula, naming Kaptan Singh and Vinod Kumar and accusing them, along with other policemen and men in plain clothes, of pelting stones, baton-charging peaceful protesters, and misbehaving with women and elderly demonstrators at Sisai bridge. The committee has sought suspension of the said officers, a criminal case against them, and an impartial inquiry, with copies of the complaint marked to the national and state human rights commissions.
Hansi police, meanwhile, have registered two FIRs in the past 24 hours over the unrest.
One, at the City police station, names Suresh Koth, Anil Balkiya, Roshan Lal Pabra, Narender Kundu, Ramphal Pradhan, Amarjeet Kundu, Ravi, Ajit Poonia, Mahender Sihag, Ramkesh, Waris Sindhu, Rohtash, Dayanand alias Dana and Shamsher among others, invoking sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita covering attempt to murder and incitement to riot, along with the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971 and the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984.
A second FIR was registered at Barwala police station against those who blocked the Hisar-Chandigarh national highway at Badopatti toll. This comes after an earlier FIR following Saturday’s clash booked 150-200 protesters, including 14 named farmer leaders and former sarpanches, on charges including attempt to murder and insult to the national flag.
The unrest itself traces back to the killing of Jeewan Kundu, whose body has yet to be cremated as protesters hold out for the arrest of main accused Ramesh Sharma, who remains at large despite a Rs 50,000 reward and a lookout notice against him.
Nine others have been arrested in the case. Farmers and khap representatives had blocked seven toll plazas in the region for three hours a day earlier, angered by the delay.
Leader of Opposition in Haryana Assembly Bhupinder Singh Hooda also reacted to the developments on X, asking Saini’s government whether seeking justice had become a crime, and accusing the BJP of persecuting people who were only demanding accountability instead of fixing what he called Haryana’s collapsed law-and-order machinery.
Reacting to reports of a lathi-charge, stone-pelting and an attempt to aim or fire an AK-47 at protesters trying to reach Saini with demands for the Jeewan Kundu case, and of an FIR being registered against them, the former chief minister called it deeply unfortunate, and said it would be even more shameful if the allegations of senior police officers themselves throwing stones turned out to be true.
He demanded a high-level, impartial probe, swift legal action against the main accused, and justice and adequate compensation for Kundu’s family.
Sirsa MP and AICC general secretary Kumari Selja termed the allegations of stone-pelting by the SP against protesters serious, and said they needed an independent, high-level probe so the truth could come out and no innocent person was wronged. She said the invoking of grave charges like attempted murder against arrested farmer leaders and activists also deserved a fair review. Selja met the injured and demanded the release of the detained farmer leaders and workers, along with the withdrawal of cases registered against them.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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