The Sessions Court in Ferozpur district in Punjab has issued arrest warrants against 25 farmers belonging to the Bharti Kisan Union (Krantikari) and Krantikari Pendu Mazdoor Union.
The arrest warrants have been issued in connection with a case of security breach that happened during PM Modi’s visit to Ferozpur on January 5, 2022. P
M Modi was going to address a public rally in Ferozpur when his safety was jeopardised after his cavalcade got struck on a flyover for over an hour because of farmers blocking the road.
Sessions Judge, Virinder Aggarwal, issued the arrest warrants under the provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNSS) and the National Highways Act.
Initially, an FIR was lodged regarding the incident on January 6, 2022, against unknown persons under section 283 (obstruction in public way) of the India Penal Code.
However, following protests from BJP leaders over filing a weak FIR, a three-member SIT was formed. Additional charges under sections 307 (attempt to murder), 353 (assault on a public servant), 341 (wrongful restraint), 186 (obstruction of duty), 149 (unlawful assembly) and 8-B of the National Highway Act were added based on the investigation of the SIT.
A total of 26 persons were named in the FIR, including Baldev Singh Zira, general secretary of BKU Krantikari along with others. One of the accused named Major Singh passed away leaving the total number of accused 25.
Directives of the court
No arrests have been made in the case so far. The court issued the arrest warrants on January 3 after the accused persons failed to appear before the court despite multiple summons and warrants.
The court directed SHO Kulgarhi police station to arrest the accused persons and produce them in the court by January 22.
The court rejected the application filed by one Kamaljeet Singh seeking anticipatory bail on the ground that he was not named in the FIR as it was lodged against unknown persons.
The bail order accessed by OpIndia mentioned that the accused was named among 25 persons found involved in road blocking during the investigation of the SIT.
The court said, “The allegations contained in the FIR are serious in nature as the Prime Minister of the country, who was coming to Ferozpur to attend a public program, was obstructed for a period of more than one hour thereby jeopardising his security”.
Details of the case
On March 21, 2023, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann directed the initiation of disciplinary proceedings for the major penalty against Sidharth Chattopadhyay, the then DGP Punjab, Inderbir Singh, the then DIG, Ferozepur Range and Harmandeep Singh Hans, the then SSP Ferozepur over the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s security breach in Punjab.
In a major lapse and seemingly deliberate act to endanger the Prime Minister’s security, the Punjab government has today allowed political protestors to block the Prime Minister’s convoy on January 5, 2022. The PM’s convoy was blocked for over 20 minutes by protestors at a flyover about 30 km away from Hussainiwala.