The mother and brother of deceased Uttar Pradesh farmer Balvinder Singh have been booked on charges of disrespecting the national flag after they allegedly draped Singh in the Tricolour during his funeral procession on Wednesday, 3 February.
The farmer from Bhopatpur village under Pilibhit’s Bari Bujhiya panchayat, Balvinder Singh, had left for the Ghazipur border on January 23. A week later, on February 1, his family got a call from Delhi Police saying he had died in a road accident. The next day, they were handed his body after autopsy at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital in Delhi and, on Wednesday, the last rites were performed at his village. His body was draped in the tricolour.
Baljinder’s mother, Jasveer Kaur, and brother Gurvinder Singh have been named in the FIR filed on the complaint of Ashutosh Raghuvanshi, the in-charge of Sehramau police station.
Pilibhit police superintendent Jai Prakash said the FIR has been registered under the Prevention of Insults to the National Honour Act, which provides for imprisonment of up to three years. “The matter is being investigated.”
“The family covered the body with the national flag like that of a martyr and took it for last rites on Thursday. The video of the last rites went viral on social media after which an FIR was registered against Baljindra’s mother Jasvir Kaur, brother Gurvinder and an unidentified person,” the SP said.
Thousands of farmers are camping at Delhi borders since November demanding that the Centre take back the three agri laws enacted last September and guarantee minimum support price for crops.
The Centre has maintained that the laws are pro-farmer.
