Farm leader held for questioning Khudian gets bail
A court here on Wednesday granted bail to a farmer leader, who was arrested four days ago by the police during a district-level programme when he posed a question to Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian.
Nirmal Singh, district general secretary of Jagjit Singh Dallewal-led Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta-Sidhupur), was sent to judicial custody by an SDM court on Saturday, just hours after the alleged incident.
He was arrested under Sections 126 (security for keeping peace in other cases) and 170 (arrest to prevent the commission of cognisable offences) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita.
The minister had denied of having any role in the farmer leader’s arrest.
Talking to The Tribune, Nirmal Singh said, “I had simply asked a question related to a hybrid variety of paddy to the minister but the police immediately arrested me.”
The farmer leader said he had refused to furnish a bail bond on the day of his arrest, following which he was sent to four-day judicial custody.
“Today, when I was produced in the court of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) again, I sought bail, which was granted to me,” he added.
Meanwhile, Kaka Singh Kotra, state general secretary of the BKU (Ekta-Sidhupur), during a farmers’ conference at Doda village here, condemned the arrest of Nirmal Singh.
“We will gherao the minister, and if the need be, we will launch an indefinite protest outside his residence as well,” he added.
Punjab