SC raps Punjab for not moving farm leader to hospital, says state appears opposed to reconciliation

The Supreme Court on Thursday remarked that the Punjab government appeared to be opposed to any reconciliation with farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who has been on a hunger strike since November 26, Live Law reported.

A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan clarified that it had not issued any directions for Dallewal to end his fast, and said that the state government should impress upon him that he could continue his hunger strike even after being shifted to a hospital.

Dallewal, chief of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political), has been on an indefinite fast at Khanauri, located on the Punjab-Haryana border.

The hunger strike is part of a wider campaign by Punjab’s farm groups to press the Union government to accept their demand for legally guaranteed minimum support prices. The minimum support price is the cost at which the government procures crops from farmers.

On December 28, the Supreme Court gave time to the Punjab government till December 31 to convince Dallewal to move to a hospital. The vacation bench rebuked the state for not adhering to its earlier directives mandating medical care for the farmer leader.

Kant on Thursday said that the court’s intentions appeared to have been misinterpreted as a directive to end Dallewal’s fast, according to Live Law.

“Our directions were not to break…

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