Cops brutalised villagers?

Tales of woes emerge; several locals claim their relatives are missing

A day after District magistrate Deepak Aggarwal and senior superintendent of police SN Singh were injured during the clash with the farmers at Greater Noida, locals claims that police atrocity began at mi night when they came hunting for the protestors.


The vehicles which were burnt during the agitation of farmers in Noida
on Sunday. PIC/MID DAY

According to the villagers police forcibly entered each house and dragged away all the male residents from the houses. Villagers also allege that they didn't listen to anyone and started beating up. There is no confirmation from the police. "A team of armed policemen came to our village. My husband and young son were having food when they asked us to send out all the male members outside or they would start shooting," said Savita resident of Bhatta Parsaul.

Families complain
While another family complains that they have no clue about his husband Bhairo who was ill and was dragged and taken away by the police. "My husband didn't even move out of the house. He is ill and was not even a part of protest. But police didn't hear us," said Kalpana. There are around 200 men missing from Bhatta Parsaul village and the locals have no details about their whereabouts.

But police have not given any confirmation on how many villagers and protesters have been detained and arrested. They also refuted the claims of torture or illegal detention of any farmer. "We have not tortured anyone in the village or illegally detained anyone. Protestors will be arrested but by law. Our seniors were attacked but still we have asked no one to lose their balance," said senior police officials.

Past matters
In August 2010, the national capital witnessed thousands of farmers from neighbouring Uttar Pradesh gathering to oppose the "forcible" acquisition of their land by the state government. The protests happened in the backdrop of three farmers being killed in police firing during one of the earlier protests this month in a village near Aligarh. Manbir Sindhu, an agriculturist whose 10 bighas of land was acquired by the state government for the Yamuna Expressway project said, "We want the right price for our lands. We want justice from the government." Another farmer, Ved Pal Singh, said, "We would be on the streets without our land. Either the government needs to pay the justified price or return our land. Large number of lands are being acquired under the Land Acquisition Act in Uttar Pradesh for constructing the 165.4 kilometres long Yamuna Expressway. This expressway is proposed to link Agra with Greater Noida. The Land Acquisition Act of 1894 allows the Government of India to acquire any land in the country for "public purposes".