On Tuesday, the Supreme Court decided to delay the hearing about farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal until January 2. This hearing was supposed to check if the Punjab government was following the order to move Dallewal to a hospital. Dallewal has been on a hunger strike for 35 days as of Monday.
The lawyers for the Punjab government said they needed three more days to comply with the court’s order, which was given on December 20. They mentioned that a team is talking to the protesting farmers at the site and trying to convince Dallewal to go to a nearby makeshift hospital.
The judges made it clear that they want to see action rather than talk. They recorded the government’s promises and put off the hearing. On December 29, officials tried to persuade Dallewal, who is in his seventies, to accept medical help, but he refused because he believed he might be forcefully removed from the protest site.
Previously, the Supreme Court had allowed the Punjab government to ask for help from the central government if needed. On Monday, Dallewal sent out a short video asking the central government to listen to the farmers’ demands. He thanked the people of Punjab for supporting a state-wide protest called a “Punjab bandh.”
Kaka Singh Kotra, a leader from a farmers’ group, said Dallewal is willing to sacrifice his life for the farmers’ cause. Farmers have been protesting at the Shambhu and Khanauri borders since February, asking for important issues related to farming to be addressed, like legal guarantees for minimum support prices, debt relief, pensions for farmers and workers, no rise in electricity costs, and justice for an incident in Lakhimpur Kheri.
The Supreme Court had told the Punjab government to convince Dallewal to go to the hospital by December 31. The judges stated that they are not satisfied with how the Punjab government is handling the situation but allowed them more time to act.
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