Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh had been a witness to the killing of five farmers in police firing at two places in Pipliya Mandi town of Mandsaur district on June 6, 2017. The unfortunate incident which claimed the lives of five farmers was further politicized by the Congress Party. For the better part of a year the Congress President Rahul Gandhi and his cabal had blamed Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan led BJP government which held power in the state. They blamed the CM for directing the armed forces to open fire on the mob of protesting farmers. Congress President Rahul Gandhi held a rally on the 6th of June this month to use the anniversary of the farmer deaths as a tool for beginning the election campaigns for the imminent state elections. The baseless allegations of the Congress leadership have been out rightly rejected by the Justice J.K. Jain Commission, the report leaked to the press clarify all blames on CM Chouhan and his government.
The probe panel headed by J.K. Jain cleared all accusations levied on the Madhya Pradesh police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) for opening fire on the agitating farmers. The Commission clearly stated that the CRPF and the Madhya Pradesh police forces had open fire on the farmers as a last resort in self-defence. Justice J.K. Jain Commission was constituted by Shivraj Singh Chouhan government to probe into the killings, the reports submitted by the independent committee will help the state government in rejecting the claims of the Congress and others who wanted to gain political traction from this event.
Some portions of the report filed by the panel were leaked to the press which have clarified that the first instance of firing by the CRPF personnel was done in Bahi Parshwanath Chaupati near Pipliya Mandi town. The CRPF personnel were surrounded on all sides by the agitated farmers who had resorted to pelting stones at them. The security personnel tried to defend themselves but the mob grabbed two of the CRPF personnel and tried to snatch their rifles forcibly, couple of other security personnel who tried to help their colleagues were also assaulted. Repeated warnings given by the CRPF personnel failed to dissuade the farmers who were in no mood to back down, the CRPF personnel opened fire as a last resort. This led to the death of two protesting farmers while three others were seriously injured.
The second incident happened at Pipliya mandi police station a couple of hours later, in the afternoon. An unruly mob atleast 1,500-2,000 strong surrounded the police station. The mob which assembled was in no mood to listen to the pleadings of the police personnel. The on duty policemen even tried to disperse the assembled mob by using tear gas shells and lathi charge. These measures failed as the mob was hell bent on attacking and hurting the policemen who were trapped. The lives of the on duty personnel were in danger as the mob allegedly tried to burn the cops alive.
The findings of the report filed by Justice J.K. Jain commission are surprising to say the least and it further lays bare the nefarious stance of the Congress leadership. The Congress leaders have often blamed our men in uniform and never backed them up in the past too, and the shocking thing is they still need and demand the best protection from the security forces. Shivraj Singh Chouhan should order a fresh probe in the events to get to the roots of the incident which took place last year. Some shocking revelations might come out in this event too just like the details of Maoist and naxal links which emerged from the Bhima-Koregaon violence when probe was done by the Maharashtra police.
