Chandigarh, May 18 (). A video of a Punjab Police officer slapping a middle-aged woman farmer in a village in Gurdaspur district has gone viral on social media.
According to reports, the farmers were protesting against land acquisition for the Bharatmala project, which involves construction of highways in the region.
Sharing the video on Twitter, BJP leader Jaiveer Shergill said, Shameful act of Punjab Police officer slapping a woman farmer in a village in Gurdaspur. Punjab Police should take strict action against this person.
A state-wide protest has begun by farmers against land acquisition for the Bharatmala project over alleged assault on a woman.
Hundreds of workers of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Samiti (KMSC) staged sit-ins on railway tracks and blocked rail traffic in several cities over inadequate compensation for the land acquired for the project.
KMSC spokesperson Gurbachan Singh Chabba said the farmers were protesting over the issue of compensation in connection with land acquisition.
Coming out in support of the farmers, the Shiromani Akali Dal condemned the oppression on the farmers and demanded action against the culprits. Also demanded a high-level inquiry into the entire incident of assault on the woman.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government and its Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, who also holds the home portfolio, has exposed its true face, senior party leader Daljit Singh Cheema said in a statement issued here. Instead of listening to the grievances of the protesting farmers, this anti-farmer government has decided to beat them up and detain them and even assault women and elders.
Emphasizing that no government should function in such an authoritarian manner, Cheema said, it would have been better if the chief minister had called the farmers and listened to their grievances instead of evicting them from their land.
He also expressed solidarity with the farmers and demanded that they be heard sympathetically.
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