Farmers are brutally lathi charged at Bastada toll plaza in Gharonda, Karnal in Haryana. The farmers had given a call to protest against Chief Minister M L Khattar’s visit to attend a high-profile state meeting of the BJP in the city. As per the agreement with the administration the farmers were assigned Bastada toll plaza site which is approximately 15 kms away from the city center where a regular dharna is continuing to protest. Farmers had decided to protest by showing black flag. The police later stopped farmers approaching the toll plaza from different parts of the district. This led to farmers blocking the traffic briefly. The police resort to heavy lathi charge injuring hundreds of farmers, some receiving serious injuries [24]. There were five rounds of lathi charging throughout the day and more than 800 police cases were registered. During the day the SDM, Karnal in a video which went viral on social media is heard instructing police to crack the heads of farmers if they breach the cordon [25]. These instructions given by the SDM were widely criticized and the Dy. CM of the state issues a statement that proper enquiry will be conducted into the matter and appropriate action will be taken against the responsible officials.
