NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Saturday gave the punjab government There is time until December 31 to convince the peasant leader Jagjit Singh Dallewalwho has been in a hunger strike for more than a month, to transfer me to a hospital.
In a hearing, a vacation bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan criticized the Punjab government for allowing the situation to worsen and not following earlier orders to provide medical help to Dallewal.
The Punjab government said it is facing resistance from protesting farmers who have surrounded Dallewal and prevented him from being taken to a hospital.
“He (Dallewal) has refused any kind of medical help, including intravenous drips, saying it would undermine the cause of the movement,” Punjab Advocate General Gurminder Singh said, informing the court that a team of experts visited the protest site. to persuade Dallewal to accept medical assistance.
The court, however, expressed dissatisfaction with the state’s efforts and said those preventing Dallewal from receiving medical attention could be committing the crime of abetment to suicide.
The court allowed the Punjab government to seek logistical support from the Center if necessary and stressed the importance of shifting Dallewal to a hospital. He noted that Dallewal could be under “peer pressure” and questioned the intentions of those preventing him from receiving medical help, asking: “Are they interested in his life or something else?”
Earlier on Friday, the Supreme Court had directed the Punjab government to ensure that Dallewal received medical assistance. It also issued a notice to the Punjab government on a contempt petition against the chief secretary and director general of police for not complying with its order to provide medical aid.
Dallewal is on indefinite hunger strike at the Khanauri border since November 26, demanding that the Center accept farmers’ demandsincluding a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP) for crops.