TIRUVANNAMALAI: The state government is in the process of booking seven farmers who staged sit-in protest against the acquisition of their land for SIPCOT, under the Goondas Act. The submission was made by the government during the bail plea hearing at the Tiruvannamalai district court on Wednesday. The matter has been adjourned to November 20.
During the hearing presided over by principal district and sessions judge P Madhusudhanan, counsel for the farmers M Anbazhagan sought bail for 20 farmers. The judge adjourned the hearing after public prosecutor KV Manoharan told the judge, “The delay in the bail process is owing to the ongoing initiation of Goondas Act proceedings by the Tamil Nadu government against seven key farmers central to the protest in the SIPCOT land acquisition case.”
The detained farmers have been booked under IPC sections 147, 341, 143, 294(b), 353 and 506(1), and the Public Property Act. These farmers had staged a peaceful sit-in protest on their patta land for more than 125 days and opposed the state government’s proposal to acquire 3,200 acres of agricultural wetland for leasing to private industries. They were arrested on November 4 based on an FIR filed in August.