Madhya Pradesh Police, CRPF Get 'Clean Chit' For Firing in Mandsaur Which Killed 5 Farmers Last Year
Senior lawyer Anand Mohan Mathur, who represented the victims’ families, has marked his apprehensions with the report submitted by the JK Jain Committee.
Bhopal, June 19: The one-man commission investigating the killing of five farmers in Madhya Pradesh's Mandsaur district last year has given a clean chit to police officers and CRPF personnel involved.
The probing panel, headed by Justice (retd) JK Jain, said the security forces were compelled to fire the fatal bullets in purposes of "self-preservation" and "mob dispersal" during the violent farmer agitation.
The fatalities were caused in two separate incidents of firing on June 6, 2017. The first deaths were reported at Bahi Pasharvanath in Pipliya Mandi, where two protesting farmers were shot dead.
The report finds the death was caused in CRPF firing after the agitators attempted to attack the jawans and snatch their rifles. Despite repeated warnings from the CRPF personnel, the protesters did not back down which compelled the jawans to launch fire, the panel states.
The second incident occurred on the same day outside the Pipliya Mandi police station, where a mob of 1,500 to 2,000 had gathered and began pelting stones, the report claims. In self-defence, the police was compelled to fire which led to the death of three protesters.
Senior lawyer Anand Mohan Mathur, who represented the victims’ families, has marked his apprehensions with the report submitted by the JK Jain Committee.
"I am absolutely unsatisfied with the report. We were not given an opportunity to expose the various manipulations that took place at the time. I was not even allowed to cross-examine Anil Thakur, the then thana in-charge," Mathur was quoted as saying by HT.
Congress, the prime Opposition in the state, issued a statement marking its disagreement with the report submitted by the Committee. "This proves the anti-farmer agenda of the BJP government. They want to shield the guilty," said Congress' state in-charge Kamal Nath.
The Madhya Pradesh government has so far refused to comment on the report. Home Secretary Malay Shrivastava said the details of the report are currently being studies.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 19, 2018 09:38 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).