1. A bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Ujjal Bhuiyan will hear the petition that seeks instructions to the Punjab and Haryana governments as well as the Union government to remove the protesting farmers from the highway.

2. The court should also order the protesting farmers to maintain law and order, the petition said.

3. It added that blocking highways this way is against the fundamental rights of the people. It also contends that it is a crime under the National Highway Act and Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

4. In such a situation, legal action should be taken against those blocking the highway, the petition read.

5. On Sunday, protesting farmers postponed their march to Delhi midway after the Haryana police use tear gas and water cannons at the Shambhu border. The farmers have said they would announce the next step after stock-taking.

6. In February this year, the Haryana government closed its border with Punjab at Shambhu in to restrict the farmers’ march towards Delhi.

7.  At the time, the farmers had renewed their agitation on the lines of the historic 2020 anti-farm law protests to pressurise the Centre on their demands — including the legalising of Minimum Support Price for crops.

8. The frequent closure of the Shambhu border by protesting farmers has been a matter of constant inconvenience to Haryana.

9. Earlier, Union minister and former Chief Minister of Haryana ML Khattar had commented on it. Calling it a “big problem”, he had even said those sitting on the Punjab side of the border are not real farmers but people intent on destabilising elected governments.

10. In August, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has ordered the state government to remove the barricades and the matter is pending in the Supreme Court. 
     

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1. The foot march to the Parliament building Delhi is expected to begin at 1 pm tomorrow from the Shambhu border protest site.

2. This would be the second footmarch planned this week. On Monday, farmers from Uttar Pradesh attempted a march to Parliament. They were stopped in Noida, but the march caused massive traffic snarls on both sides of the border.

3.  The farmers have gathered under the banner of Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political), seeking legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price of crops, among other things.

4. Besides MSP, they are demanding farm debt waiver, pension for them and their labourers, no hike in electricity tariff, withdrawal of police cases and “justice” for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence.

5. They have been camping at Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana since February 13 after their march to Delhi was stopped by security forces.

6. The prohibitory orders, which ban the gathering of four and more people, automatically bars any procession on foot, vehicles, or other modes.

7. Central paramilitary forces have been deployed on the Haryana side of the border along with multi-layer barricading. Senior police officers have reached the border to assess the security situation.

8. In a hearing earlier this week, the Supreme Court said while peaceful protest is a democratic right, farmers should not obstruct highways and cause inconvenience to the people.

9. “In a democratic setup, you can engage in peaceful protests but do not cause inconvenience to people. You all know that the Khanauri border is a lifeline for Punjab. We are not commenting on whether the protest is right or wrong,” said a benh of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan.

10. On February 21, Shubhkaran Singh, a farmer from Punjab, died during a clash at Khanauri border when protesters tried to march towards Delhi. Teargas shells were also lobbed by the security forces.

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