BELAGAVI: The issue of farmers protesting over the Mahadayi issue being booked on charges of dacoity sparked a heated discussion in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday. Independent member P Rajeev, raising a demand for withdrawal of cases against the farmers, sought a clarification from Home Minister G Parameshwara on whether the agitating farmers were dacoits.
He accused that the government of registering cases under various sections of the Indian Penal Code which attract life imprisonment and demanded the government to drop those charges. Opposition leader Jagadish Shettar said many innocent and aged women were booked and sent to Ballari and Chitradurga jails. How can a 70-year-old woman set fire to a government office or destroy public property, he wondered.
Accusing the government of failing to exhibit political will to withdraw cases to bail out innocent farmers, he demanded the government to table the ADGP Kamal Pant and Raghavendra Auradkar reports on police excesses during the protests.
‘Will withdraw cases against farmers at the earliest’
Parameshwara said the government was committed to withdrawing cases against those who are innocent after seeking a clarification from the prosecution department and getting a cabinet nod.