Bathinda, Feb 6 (PTI) Several Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) leaders were detained across the state by police on Friday ahead of the outfit’s protest seeking the release of its two jailed members.
The farmer union had planned a protest outside the District Administrative Complex here and also proposed to hold a gathering at the Bhucho Khurd village.
Visuals from the Barnala district showed a scuffle between a group of the Bharti Kisan Union (BKU) (Ekta Ugrahan) members and police at Tapa. The farmers were trying to head towards Bathinda but were stopped by police. The union members then tried to cross the barricades on their way, but they were prevented from moving forward.
The union leaders claimed that many of their members were detained and taken into preventive custody by police.
“Many of our leaders have been detained at different parts of the state, including Bathinda, Tarn Taran, Amritsar and Moga,” a senior leader of the farmers’ outfit, Sukhdev Singh, said.
“We have been demanding the release of two BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) leaders who have been lodged in Bathinda jail since April last year. Their arrests came after our union supported a group of teachers who were protesting against alleged corruption at a school,” he said.
He said talks had also been going on with the authorities regarding their release in recent days, and they had received assurances that the issue would be resolved.
He said at many places in the state, the farmers staged ‘dharnas’ against their leaders being detained on Friday. PTI SUN PRK PRK
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