Ghazipur: Farmers from Uttar Pradesh have accused the police of intimidation, harassment and surveillance in order to discourage their participation in the protests against the three farm laws.
These farmers, who are now protesting at Delhi’s Ghazipur border, also alleged the Uttar Pradesh Police was blocking the roads and highways to Delhi, which forced them to take longer and alternate routes.
Gurpreet Singh, a farmer from Mulla Khera village in Rampur, said he and his co-travellers had to come to Delhi via an alternate route in December because the direct route from Rampur was guarded by the police.
“On the day we had to leave, the police called almost everyone in my village, Mulla Khera, and categorically asked us to not come to the protests, saying FIRs could be filed against us. But that didn’t scare us,” he told ThePrint.
“It took us 11 hours to complete a 5-hour journey. We were forced to go to Milat, Shahbad, Dilari then Moradabad to come to Delhi when a direct route from Rampur is available,” he added. Singh reached Delhi on the night of 25 December.
“If they see anyone with a turban sitting inside, the car is simply not allowed to pass and is sent back. This is why we stopped coming in individual cars and started coming to Delhi in huge groups,” noted farmer brothers Sarbjeet Singh and Balbeer Singh from Nawabganj.
According to Bharatiya Kisan Union media-in-charge, Dharmendra Malik, the Uttar Pradesh Police has also detained some farmers.
“If they come in small groups they’re detained for hours on end. A group of farmers coming from Faizabad was detained in Agra for a night. It’s taking three days to cover a one-day-long journey,” Malik told ThePrint.
Malik also noted that the police have been camping outside houses of local leaders and disallowing them from conducting meetings.
“Police sit at the houses of our local leaders and prevent them from conducting local meetings and giving lectures at local panchayats,” he said.
Police officials ThePrint spoke to, however, denied the farmers’ accusations.
Uttar Pradesh Additional Director General of Police Prashant Kumar said, “If they were really being stopped on their way, how come 8,000-9,000 farmers reach Delhi and continue to reach the protest site?”
Kumar added there was no truth to the surveillance claims either and that the police had received no orders to carry on these exercises.
Also read: It’s pressure tactics, say protesting farmers & Punjab journalist on NIA summons in terror case
Farmers allege surveillance and protester profiling
The protesting farmers also alleged that the police have been visiting their homes and questioning their families.
“If the police get to know we’re coming to Delhi for dharna, they go to our families and ask them to get us to come back to the village. However, they don’t issue any threats,” a farmer from Baghpat, who did not wish to be named, told ThePrint.
“In Baghpat, some farmers are also sitting on local dharnas. The police have cancelled licenses of pistols and rifles of such farmers, and even stopped the development of their properties.”
According to Malkeet Singh Bains, a protesting farmer from Pilibhit, the police have threatened to lodge court cases against them.
Bains said that even before the farmers came to Delhi, announcements by the police were being made in local gurdwaras advising the farmers not to join the protests.
Some others have been asked to appear in the local police stations.
“Local police stations call our homes and ask us to appear at the local thaana. They even told me over the phone that if I am here for long, I’ll get in trouble,” said Sarbjeet Singh.
However, according to Pilibhit Superintendent of Police Jai Prakash, the police have been visiting villages on routine patrols and it’s wrong to say that they’ve caused any trouble to the protesting farmers.
“We’ve been doing our routine duties and visiting villages. We keep a normal watch on the villagers and keep track of any tiffs between villagers that may arise. We’re also helping them organise panchayat elections right now. If all this is being mistaken for protester profiling, then I don’t know, but it’s a completely false allegation,” he told ThePrint.
Shogun Gautam, Superintendent of Police at Rampur, said, “Farmers have the right to free speech, and may say anything they want. But no kind of protester surveillance is happening.”
Also read: Farmers mark sombre ‘kaali Lohri’ at Delhi’s borders, burn copies of farm laws