delhi republic day violence — Image Source : PTI (FILE)
Delhi R-Day violence: Lookout notices issued against farmer leaders, asked to submit passports

The Delhi Police has issued lookout notices against the farmer leaders against whom FIRs have been filed in connection with Republic Day violence. The notices were issued by the police at the behest of the Ministry of Home Affairs to prevent these leaders from fleeing the country.

The MHA has also ordered the police to ask the farmer leaders to submit their passports.

Besides, police has issued notices to more than 20 farmer leaders in connection with the violence that unfolded on Delhi roads on Republic Day. They have been asked to answer within three days why actions shouldn't be initiated against for flouting rules and resorting to violence during the tractor parade.

"Lookout notices issued against farmer leaders named in FIRs in connection with R-Day violence," Delhi Police Commissioner SN Srivastava said.

The Delhi Police has registered 25 FIRs, including against over 30 of the 40 farm union leaders who were involved in talks with the government. Thirty-seven farm union leaders, including six spokespersons of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), have been named in an FIR registered at the Samaypur Badli police station, in Outer Delhi.

The six SKM spokespersons who have been named are Jagjit Singh Dallewal, president, BKU (Sidhupur); Balbir Singh Rajewal, president, BKU (Rajewal); Darshan Pal, president, Krantikari Kisan Union; Rakesh Tikait, president, BKU; Kulwant Singh Sandhu, general secretary, Jamhoori Kisan Sabha; Yogendra Yadav, president, Swaraj Party India. Others who have been named in the FIR are Boota Singh Burjgill, president, BKU Dakaunda; Nirbhai Singh Dhudike, president, Kirti Kisan Union; Ruldu Singh Mansa, president, Punjab Kisan Union; Inderjit Singh, president, Kisan Sangharsh Committee among others.

One of the FIRs, on the Red Fort incident, names Punjabi film actor Deep Sidhu and Lakhbir Singh Sidhana alias Lakha Sidhana, gangster-turned-politician and president of the Malwa Youth Federation.

400 cops injured

Nearly 400 policemen were injured during the tractor parade of the farmers who have been protesting against three central farm laws at Delhi's borders since November. According to Delhi Police, farmer leaders made inflammatory speeches and were involved in the violence during the tractor parade by agitating farmers that left 394 of its personnel injured, as it warned that no culprit will be spared.

Tens of thousands of farmers broke barriers to storm the national capital on Tuesday, their tractor parade to highlight their demands dissolving into unprecedented scenes of anarchy as they fought with police, overturned vehicles and delivered a national insult hoisting a religious flag from the ramparts of the Red Fort, a privilege reserved for India's tricolour.

From Rajpath to Red Fort, the day unfolded in scenes of contrasts. One that Indians have seen for seven decades and the other that seared itself into collective memory with its imagery of protesters demanding a repeal of the three farm laws storming the Mughal era monument, the centrepiece of India's Independence Day celebrations.

Clashes broke out in multiple places, leading to violence in well-known landmarks of Delhi and its suburbs, amid waves of violence that ebbed and flowed through the day. A protester died after his tractor overturned near ITO, one of the major flashpoints of trouble.