After the Haryana Government on Saturday ordered a judicial probe into last month’s clash between farmers and police and sent the IAS officer who is at the centre of a row over his remark “break the heads of farmers” on leave, farmers called off their five-day long sit-in outside the Karnal district headquarters.
Haryana Additional Chief Secretary Devender Singh said the probe will be conducted by a retired judge and will be completed within a month. SDM Ayush Sinha will remain on leave during the time, he said.
A joint Press conference by Haryana Government officials and farmer leader Gurnam Singh Chaduni was held in Karnal after both sides reached an agreement, leading to the ending of the stand-off. There was an indication of a possible ending of the impasse between the farmers and the Karnal administration on Friday evening itself as after a marathon meeting both sides had said that it was held in a cordial atmosphere.
About 10 protesters were hurt in the clash with police in Karnal on August 28 when they tried to march towards the venue of a BJP meeting. Sinha, a 2018-batch IAS officer, was caught on video allegedly telling policemen to “break the heads” of farmers if they cross the line.
Following the incident, farmers had been demanding the suspension of Sinha. On September 2, he was transferred out of Karnal and posted as Additional Secretary of the Citizen Resources Information Department.