Delhi High Court Issues Notice On Plea Seeking Court Monitored SIT Probe Into Farmer Navreet Singh's Death On Republic Day's Tractor Rally

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notice on a petition by a 65-year old farmer from Uttar Pradesh seeking Court monitored probe in to the death of 25-year old farmer grandson, Navreet Singh, after an alleged bullet injury during the farmers' tractor rally on Republic Day in Central Delhi.

A single judge bench of Justice Yogesh Khanna today took on record the Delhi Standing Counsel, Rahul Mehra's submission that, while he would be taking instructions on the issues raised by the petitioner, they would have "no hesitation" in providing the documents, electronic evidence etc as prayed for in the petition, after due preservation of the same.

Mehra also sought for time to file detailed status report on the matter. The court has granted him time to file the report by Feb 26, which has been fixed as the next date of hearing. The petition, which also sought an SIT probe into the incident, was argued before the court by Sr. Adv. Vrinda Grover.

While the government and Delhi Police have maintained the stand that the death of the young farmer was caused due to an overturning of the tractor after it hit police barricades, the case of the grandfather, Petitioner Harmanjeet Singh, is that his grandson, Navreet's tractor had overturned after he suffered an ante-mortem head injury due to a bullet shot by the police.

Sr. Adv. Vrinda Grover, appearing for Harmanjeet, argued that, "The grandson of the petitioner was driving the tractor and was allegedly shot by the police. After he was shot, the tractor toppled. This account was also corroborated by other witnesses." She also claimed that there were two eye-witnesses for this incident.

Raising a question mark on the police's handling of the investigation so far, she stated that, "In the hours following the incident, the Delhi Police was conspicuous in its absence from the site" and that though the Delhi Police had said that this was a motor accident after the farmer rammed his tractor into the barricades, "even if it was a road accident, no inquest has conducted, no FIR was registered."

Praying for copies of the CCTV footage, on the plea that the petitioner who had lost a young grandson had a right to a fair and timely investigation and the right to know how his grandson had died, she said that, "There were many CCTV footages from the Andhra Education Society but the police (had) stormed into the Society where the DVR was, took the CCTV footages and walked out."

She further stated that, "There were many angles of the CCTV, but afterwards, only one footage taken from afar was released," which corroborated the police's version of the incident.