Plea in Apex Court demands early hearing of the case to clear protesting farmers from Delhi borders

The Singhu border killing case has reached the Supreme Court with Advocate Shashank Shekhar Jha having filed an application in the apex court. On account of killing a man at the Singhu border in Haryana's Sonipat on Friday, an application has been filed before the top court demanding a quick hearing of a plea to remove all protestors from the borders of Delhi, where farmers are agitating against the three farm laws. Members of a Sikh warrior group allegedly killed a 32-year-old farm labourer, hacked off his left arm, and tied his body to a metal barricade near the Singhu farm protest site at the Singhu border on Friday. The petitioners also referred to the largescale violence on the streets of Delhi on Republic Day and reports of alleged sexual assault on a woman at the protest site to seek immediate removal of the protesting farmers blocking the national highways linking Delhi to other states. The petitioners also said as per the Covid norms, no protests and a large gathering of persons could be permitted. The plea filed through advocate Shashank Shekhar Jha sought an early hearing of the case saying despite multiple attempts, the matter has not been heard till now."Any delay will result in gross injustice and the purpose of this application will become infructuous," it said. The application added, "Right to Freedom of Speech and Expression cannot supersede Right to life and if this protest is allowed to go on like this, the nation at large will be at loss." The petition filed by Swati Goel and Sanjeev Newar also seeks for issuance of guidelines by the Centre to the States and Union Territories to stop all kinds of protests in their States and not permit them until the pandemic gets over. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), a premier body of farmers' unions leading the protest against the Centre's farm laws, said that "both the parties to the incident" - the Nihang group and the victim - have no relation with it. "The peaceful and democratic movement of the farmers is opposed to violence in any form ". Further, the farmer leaders demanded that the culprits be punished in accordance with the law after investigating the allegation of murder and the 'conspiracy' behind the sacrilege. The SKM promised to cooperate with the police in the investigation. On October 1st Supreme Court lashed out at a farmers' group protesting the three agricultural laws saying they have "strangulated the entire city (Delhi) and blocked highways" and also on October 4th Top court questioned, "When farmers are in court challenging the laws, why protest on street?".