Mandsaur firing: Panel gives clean chit to cops, Opposition demands CBI probe 

Death of six farmers in Mandsaur district of Madhya Pradesh on June 6, 2017, was a result of poor intelligence and failure of the administration, concluded a single-member commission report.

Headed by retired Madhya Pradesh High Court Judge JK Jain, the commission, after examining 211 people including 185 civilians and 26 government officials, gave a clean chit to collector Swatantra Kumar Singh and Superintendent of Police OP Tripathi. Both were suspended immediately after the incident. Police should have fired first on the protesters’ legs, but instead they resorted to direct firing, noted the report.

However, the report states that proper rules and procedures were not followed during the firing which resulted in the death of five people. A farmer had later succumbed to injuries in the hospital, raising the death toll to six.

The report is likely to be tabled in the monsoon session of the state assembly.

The main opposition Congress and farmers’ leaders have condemned the report. Decrying the findings of the report, Congress MLA and working president of the Madhya Pradesh Congress, Jitu Patwari said the report was written under duress.

“The Jain commission report was written at Chief Minister Shivraj Singh’s residence in Bhopal. How can it be possible that six persons were killed in firing and no one is accountable?” questioned Patwari.

Patwari demanded a CBI probe into the killing of the farmers and said Congress would bring no-confidence motion when the report would be tabled in the Assembly.

Echoing Patwari’s view, farmer leader Shiv Kumar “Kakka” said that the commission has neglected glaring facts about the involvement of the BJP leadership in the firing.

Blaming BJP government and the RSS for the killing, “Kakka” said that by giving clean-chit to the local administration, the commission has, in fact, whitewashed the truth. “The report was dictated by the BJP government,” he reiterated.

The commission pointed out the lack of the coordination between the police force and the local administration. Citing lack of proper training, the commission reported that the cops who threw tear-gas shells lacked training, therefore, ultimatums and warnings were not effective enough.

On June 6, 2017, six people were killed and property worth over ₹25 crore was destroyed after farmers who were peacefully protesting were killed in the firing by policemen. Farmers were seeking proper rates for their produce and loan waiver.

Sources said that the MP government had deliberately delayed the report as it feared protest from the farmers during the June 1-10 agitation.