500 UP Farmers Protest at Noida, FIR Against 180 Including Farmer Leader

The Noida authority headquarters in Sector 6 was the site of a protest on Monday, but no authorization from the police was obtained, thus the Gautam Budh Nagar police on Tuesday filed an FIR against over 180 persons, including farmer leader Sukhbir Khalifa.

In addition to Khalifa, the police have also detained 100 unidentified men, 50 unidentified women, and 36 identified individuals in accordance with applicable Indian Criminal Code provisions.

On Monday, farmers from about 80 villages protested the Noida government, calling for better rehabilitation services and claiming that the government had betrayed them by breaking its pledges to put a stop to their agitation four months prior.

About 500 farmers, including women, arrived at the Sector 6 office at midday, they yelled anti-Noida and anti-Uttar Pradesh chants. Their march disrupted business at the authority office as well as traffic on Udyog Marg, the city's main thoroughfare.

A junior engineer from the Noida authority filed a complaint against the protestors at the Phase-1 police station following the conclusion of the demonstration, stating that several unnamed members of the protesting group had manhandled him and attempted to strangle him.

"The Noida authority official said in his complaint that only the police's presence at the scene prevented him from suffering serious harm. We have registered an FIR based on a complaint received under sections 307 (attempt to murder), 323 (voluntary causing hurt), 329 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt to extort property), 353 (assault on public servant), 147 (punishment for rioting) and 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code," said Dhravbhushan Dubey, in charge of Phase-1 police station, Noida.

He further stated that the case is under investigation and that no arrests have been made as of yet.

On Tuesday, Khalifa declared that the farmers will keep up their protest. "We will continue our protest no matter how many cases are filed against us to intimidate us. Claims of official manhandling and strangulation are untrue, he declared.