Farmers’ protest: Move Dallewal to hospital, Supreme Court directs Punjab govt

The Supreme Court on Friday, 20 December, asked the Punjab government to shift fasting farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal to a nearby makeshift hospital at the Khanauri border where his health can be monitored round the clock.

A bench of justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan asked the Punjab government's advocate general Gurminder Singh to file an undertaking during the course of the day with regard to shifting the 70-year-old Dallewal to the makeshift hospital setup near the protest site at the Khanauri border between Punjab and Haryana.

Singh informed the bench that on Thursday, 19 December, the farmer leader had cooperated and undergone several tests, including an ECG and blood tests.

He said that Dallewal’s health condition appears to be stable as of now.

The bench said it would take up the matter again at around 2.30 p.m.

On Thursday, 19 December, the bench referred to civil rights activist Irom Sharmila continuing her protest for more than a decade under medical supervision and asked the Punjab government to convince Dallewal to undergo a health examination.

It had also pulled up the Punjab government for not conducting medical tests on Dallewal, who is on an indefinite fast.

Dallewal has been on a 'fast unto death' at the Khanauri border since 26 November to press the Centre to accept the agitating farmers' demands, including a legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) for crops.

Farmers under the banner of Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha have been camping at Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana since 13 February after their march to Delhi was stopped by the security forces.

The Haryana government set up the barricades on the Ambala–New Delhi National Highway in February after it was announced that the farmers would march to Delhi in support of their demands, including legal guarantee of MSP for their produce.