Lynching: SKM cannot escape responsibility for what happened at protest site, says Dushyant Chautala

  • | Saturday | 16th October, 2021

Chandigarh, Oct 16 (PTI) Strongly condemning the gruesome killing of a man at the Singhu border, Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala and senior BJP leader Rattan Lal Kataria on Saturday said the Samyukt Kisan Morcha cannot escape from the responsibility for what happened at their protest site.“It was a barbaric crime. Police are already at the job, conducting investigations into the case... But 40 leaders (SKM leaders) cannot escape from their responsibility,” Chautala, leader of the JJP, which is a coalition partner of the ruling BJP in Haryana, said.He said the farmers movement is being spearheaded by the farm union leaders, and that in any organisation or department, its head is accountable for anything going wrong, likewise in any movement, its leader is responsible.     “And this movement is being spearheaded by those 40 leaders,” Chautala told reporters in Gurgaon, adding that the farm movement leaders cannot escape from the responsibility for what happened.Commenting on the barbaric killing, Kataria, a former Union minister, said, “The way one used to hear about barbaric crime and killings carried out by the Taliban, in similar fashion Lakhbir Singh was done to death.       “The responsibility of any incident happening at the protest site (of farmers) lies with the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM). They cannot escape from the responsibility for what has happened at their protest site,” Kataria, the MP from Ambala, said.Lakhbir Singh, a 36-year-old Dalit farm labourer, was lynched on Friday allegedly by a group of Nihangs who accused him of desecrating a Sikh holy book. His body was found tied to an overturned police barricade at the Singhu border protest site, with the left hand chopped off and multiple wounds caused by sharp-edged weapons.Two arrests have been made so far in connection with the incident.Earlier, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had also strongly condemned the killing and directed strict action against those found guilty.Kataria said the Haryana Police faced resistance and great difficulty in reaching the incident site on Friday.“What were the farmer union leaders doing?” he asked.In a statement, the SKM had on Friday said that "both the parties to the incident", the Nihang group and the victim, had no relation with the Morcha.The peaceful and democratic movement of the farmers is opposed to violence in any form, the SKM statement had said.The BJP leader said no matter how big a mistake a person may have committed, the law of the land does not give anyone the right to kill.“There are no words enough to condemn this gruesome killing, in which a group of Nihangs inflicted injuries on Lakhbir Singh and later tied up his body with a metal barricade,” he said.Kataria said last year, a Punjab policeman"s hand was chopped off with a sword and his six colleagues injured in an attack allegedly by a group of Nihangs at a village market in Patiala when the accused were asked to produce curfew passes.The policeman"s hand was later reattached after a surgery at the PGIMER in Chandigarh.Haryana Agriculture Minister J P Dalal also condemned the incident, saying “there is no place for such incidents in a civilised society”.Hitting out at the barbaric incident, Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda said, “There should be a thorough investigation into the entire incident and those guilty should be punished.” He said the government should also hold dialogue with the protesting farmers and resolve the issue at the earliest.PTI SUN VSD SRY


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