Uttar Pradesh: Farmers Get Rs 50 lakh Notices For Protests; Cops Say Will Revise Sum

Sambhal: Few Days after Sub-Divisional Magistrate in UP’s Sambhal asked farmer leaders to submit a personal bond of Rs 50 lakh each to prevent them from joining the countrywide protest, cops claimed that the amount was “clerical error”.

However, the leaders said the notice itself is to “throttle democratic protest”. Six farmer leaders here have received the notices who are mainly the office-bearers of Bhartiya Kisan Union (Asli). Similar notices were sent to six other leaders seeking a bond of Rs 5 lakh, reported The Indian Express.

The notices were issued on December 12 and 13 under CrPC’s section 111, which authorises the magistrate to send a show-cause notice under a bond.

“I have spoken to the SDM and there will be fresh notices following the error,” Sambhal SP Chakresh Mishra was quoted as saying by The Indian Express. “The SDM is currently on leave and once he comes back we will look to issue a bond of Rs 50,000 since the earlier one was a clerical error,” Sambhal’s Circle Officer Arun Kumar Singh said.

But according to the farm leaders, they “would rather be in jail than give in to these tactics”.

“They decided on a random number as long as it could deter us from protesting. It’s a non-violent protest. Why is the administration so afraid of farmers protesting? They have mentioned Rs 50 lakh as if we are terrorists. They know that we do not have that kind of money,” district president of BKU (Asli) Rajpal Singh Yadav said. Yadav is among the six who have received the notices seeking Rs 50 lakh in personal bond.

It may be recalled that the leaders, mostly from the Chandausi and Singhpur areas, have been protesting since November 26. On the first day, about 400 people had gathered at a chowk here.