Septuagenarian Punjab farmer part of protests at Singhu dies of cardiac arrest

Chandigarh: A 72-year-old Punjab farmer who was participating in the farmers' agitation at Delhi's Singhu border has died of cardiac arrest, police said on Saturday.

Hansa Singh was a resident of Moga district, a police official posted at Kundli police station in Haryana's Sonipat said.

Singh died of a heart attack on Thursday night, police said, adding his post-mortem was conducted on Friday.

Meanwhile, protesting farmer unions on Saturday demanded a high-level judicial inquiry into the violence that took place during the tractor rally in Delhi on January 26 and the alleged 'false' cases slapped on the farmers.

Addressing a press conference at the Singhu border, Samyukta Kisan Morcha leaders asked farmers who are getting police notices not to appear before the force directly and, instead, approach the legal cell constituted by the unions for any assistance.

Kuldeep Singh, a member of SKM's legal cell, alleged that a retired judge of the Supreme Court or high court should probe the incidents to unravel the "conspiracy" behind the January 26 violence and the alleged 'false cases' against the growers.

According to SKM leaders, 16 farmers who had participated in the tractor parade are still untraceable.

Thousands of farmers have been protesting since late November at Delhi borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, demanding a rollback of the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

The protesting farmers have expressed apprehension that these laws would pave the way for the dismantling of the Minimum Support Price (MSP) system, leaving them at the "mercy" of big corporations.