Farmers & cops clash in Haryana; Hisar becomes battlefield

Chandigarh: Violence broke in Haryana's Hisar after farmers and police confronted each other on Friday, injuring a police officer. Video footage showed a chaotic atmosphere at the spot where riot troops were seen in full armour, and people were taken into custody, NDTV reported.

Tense stand off between farmers and cops in Haryana's Hisar district as cops tried to stop farmers from reaching the Khanauri border. @ndtv pic.twitter.com/9UKrpVrVvm

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Police ordered lathi charges and fired tear gas at the farmers while the latter retorted by hurling stones. The violence erupted after the protesting farmers were stopped from marching to Khanauri on the Punjab border.

The farmers were going to join another group of farmers who had gathered at the Shambhu border for the 'Delhi Chalo' march.

On Friday, a 62-year-old farmer died in Khanauri after suffering a cardiac arrest. The person, identified as Darshan Singh, Punjab's Bathinda district, was the second one to die in these protests. On Wednesday, 21-year-old Subhkaran Singh died following a clash with the police.

Singh's postmortem stated that his death was due to a head injury. Farmer leaders said that his body would not be cremated until the Punjab administration registered a case against those responsible. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann promised that a case would be filed after the postmortem and announced Rs 1 crore compensation to Singh's family, along with employment for his sister.

Other than the mentioned two deaths, at least two more have occurred during the protests.

The 'Delhi Chalo' march is organized to press the farmers' demands of a legal guarantee for MSP, and waiver of farm loans, pensions, and rollback of increased electricity rates, NDTV reports.