PIL seeks judicial probe into farmer’s suicide

Days after a farmer from Rajasthan allegedly hanged himself during the Aam Aadmi Party rally at Jantar Mantar, a PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a court-monitored judicial probe into the incident that took place in full public view.

The PIL, likely to be listed for hearing during next week, has asked the Centre and state governments to take immediate necessary steps to prevent farmers’ suicide and to fix “adequate compensation” for their dependents in case of deaths.

The plea, filed by advocate G L Mani, has quoted the National Crime Records Bureau statistics and said that 13,574 farmers had committed suicide in 2012.

“According to NCRB, 46 farmers commit suicide every day in India. A total of 2, 96,438 farmers committed suicide in India between 1995 and 2013,” it said.

It also alleged, “There are so many farmers, who are committing suicide every day and neither the Central nor the state governments concerned are taking any steps to prevent these.”

Besides the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the plea has been made ministries of Social Justice and Home and Affairs and all states and Union Territories (UTs). 

The petition has sought a series of directions, which include calling for records and details from the Central and state governments on farmer suicides from 1995.

On April 22, 41-year-old Gajendra Singh, committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree in full public view in the presence of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.