A 21-year-old farmer was killed during the clash between police and farmers on Wednesday, February 21. The deceased has been identified as Shubkaran Singh, a resident of Baloke village in Punjab’s Bathinda district. He suffered rubber bullet injuries to his head.
Speaking to The Quint, Medical Superintendent at the Government Medical College and Rajendra Hospital in Patiala Harnam Singh said, “He was already dead when he was brought to the hospital at around 3 pm. He suffered bullet injuries in his head.”
The situation was tense along the Punjab-Haryana border on Wednesday after police officials heightened the security to prevent the protesting farmers from entering New Delhi. According to sources, at least 12 farmers were seriously injured in the clashes out of which two of them have been hospitalised.
Expressing his condolences, Congress leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira wrote on X, “My heartfelt condolences to the family of deceased farmer Shubkaran son of Charanjit Singh of V Ballo District Bathinda who was shot by Haryana police today at Khanauri border during #FarmerProtest2024. This is a matter of grave concern and at the same time shame for @BhagwantMann for being a mute spectator to blatant intrusion by Haryana police into Punjab territory injuring over 200 farmers and killing this youth.”
However, the Haryana Police claimed that no farmer died in the incident. “This is just a rumour. There is information about two policemen and one protestor being injured at Data Singh-Khanauri border. They are undergoing treatment,” it said in a post on X.
Hospitals in five Punjab districts have been put on alert following the clashes between protesting farmers and the Haryana Police. Police have erected several layers of barricades on the Punjab-Haryana borders. The Haryana police also fired tear gas at the farmers.
With inputs from IANS