'Go the Gandhian way': Supreme Court tells farmers to temporarily halt protest or shift from highways

Voicing concern over the deteriorating health of Punjab farmer Jagjit Singh Dallewal, the apex court ordered the State of Punjab to provide medical help to him and the high-powered committee to persuade him to break his fast.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday asked the court-appointed high-powered panel to engage with protesting farmers to persuade them to either temporarily suspend their protest or relocate it from the highway along the Punjab-Haryana border, where they have been organising a sit-in since February 13.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan also voiced serious concerns regarding the deteriorating health of Jagjit Singh Dallewal, a Punjab farmer leader on a fast-unto-death protest for over 17 days, and stressed that the well-being of the farmer leader remains a top priority.

The court opined that the farmers have a constitutional right to protest, which can be conducted peacefully on the lines of “Gandhian philosophy”.

The court emphasised the protest should not get violent and public order should be maintained.

It also said no force should be used against the farmers and they should also agitate peacefully.

Punjab's advocate general Gurminder Singh said the committee, in its report, has gone on a larger perspective.

“We thought the blockade of the highway was for a reason. We wanted that reason to be identified….cause may be partly correct or partly incorrect. Cause may be 100 percent correct, something like that. The experts have to look into all those aspects and submit a comprehensive report, which might enable stakeholders to take appropriate decision,” the bench said.

The bench made it clear that it is not inclined to issue a direction which becomes impossible to implement.

The bench instructed representatives from both the Centre and the Punjab government to urgently meet Dallewal, provide medical aid, and convince him to end his strike. The bench said it is important to preserve his life and it should remain a top priority.

The bench asked the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Gurminder Singh to avoid using force against Dallewal unless absolutely necessary for his survival.

Singh submitted that the farmers’ blockade of major highways, including the arterial Khanauri-Shambhu stretch, has resulted in economic disruption for the state.

“The committee might be best to convince the farmers that their issues are being looked into for the time being they should suspend. We are not saying that they should withdraw. They have a legitimate right (to protest),” the bench said, adding, if nothing materialises the agitation can resume.

On September 2, the Supreme Court had set up a high-powered panel headed by Justice Nawab Singh, a former Punjab and Haryana High Court's judge, to conduct negotiations with the farmers, holding a sit-in at Shambhu border since February 13 over their various demands including legal guarantee for minimum support price for their produce.

Apart from a legal guarantee for MSP, the farmers demanded implementation of the Swaminathan Commission's recommendations, pension for farmers and farm labourers, farm debt waiver, reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013 and compensation to the families of farmers who died during a previous agitation in 2020-21.

On December 2, the court asked Punjab's farmer leader Dallewal, to persuade the protesting farmers to refrain from obstructing highways and causing inconvenience to people, saying one can engage in peaceful protest, without causing inconvenience to people.