Delhi govt approves withdrawal of 17 cases filed during farmers' stir

New Delhi: The Delhi government has approved the withdrawal of 17 cases registered during the anti-farm law stir, including one involving last year's Republic Day violence, a senior official said on Tuesday.

He said the file related to the cases was sent by Lt Governor Anil Baijal's office to Delhi Home Minister Satyendar Jain on January 31.

It was approved by Jain and sent to the chief minister's office on February 25. The CMO sent the file to the L-G office on February 28 and it was approved the same day, the officer said.

An official statement from the Delhi government stated the matter has been "escalated" and the "requisite files" have been sent to the L-G. Sources added that the files are now pending final clearance from the L-G's office, after which they will be sent back to the police for completing the process of closing the cases.

The Delhi Police had identified 17 out of the 54 cases registered from November 2020 to December 2021 for withdrawal.

One of the cases is related to 200-300 protesters and 25 tractors reaching the Red Fort and entering its premises through the Lahori Gate, resulting in damage to ticket counters, doorframe metal detectors and baggage scanners.

Another case was registered at the Jyoti Nagar police station in northeast Delhi against protesting farmers entering Delhi from UP's Loni border riding 150-175 tractors and allegedly obstructing policemen from discharging their duty and assaulting them.

Most of the cases were registered for violation of COVID-19 protocols and guidelines during their over one-year-long anti-farm law agitation at Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur borders of Delhi.

However, some key cases related to the farmer protests, which include a bunch of cases registered in the wake of the January 26 violence last year, remain open for investigation, with some cases also having reached the courts.

These include the case where Deep Sidhu (who died in a car crash earlier this year), activist and actor, was an accused and the one registered against environmental activist Disha Ravi, for allegedly spreading purported anti-India messages on social media.

The protesters, mostly from Punjab and Haryana, laid siege at Delhi borders in November 2020 demanding that the Centre withdraw the three farm laws. The protest ended in December 2021 after the Narendra Modi government withdrew the farm laws.

The Centre had also agreed to the demand of the agitating farmers, protesting under the umbrella organisation Samyukta Kisan Morcha for the withdrawal of cases registered against them between November 2020 to December 2021.

In a letter, the Centre on December 9, 2021, had stated that it agreed to immediately withdraw cases registered against the protesters and

their supporters during the farmers' stir. with pti inputs