‘Morchay teh phir milangay’: hit by tear gas shell, Punjab farmer’s son willing to return to protest

Farmers protesting at Shambhu border in Chandigarh injured by expired tear gas canisters, sparking outrage and determination to continue.

On February 13, sometime between 4 p.m. and 4.30 p.m., Davinder Singh said a tear bomb hit him. He, along with many other farmers, was protesting at the Shambhu border between Punjab and Haryana when tear gas canisters, “way past their expiry date, started dropping from the sky”. “It went straight into my left eye,” mumbled the 22-year-old who is undergoing treatment at the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) in Chandigarh.

“I have at least 15 to 20 videos of the incident. When I fell on the ground, they fired three-four tear bombs so that no one could come and pick me up. Those tear gas shells with expiry dates of 2014, 2015, 2016 are still there… If they deny it, I have the videos,” he told The Hindu. His friend Sanamveer Singh, who was standing a few feet away at the time, said, “When Davinder got injured, we were standing in the wheat fields just below the bridge at Shambhu [border]. When I saw that he fell down, I rushed to pick him up but more tear bombs were dropped. Yet, people came and we managed to pick him up and took him to the Community Health Centre in Banur from where he was shifted to Chandigarh in an ambulance.”

On reaching Chandigarh, doctors operated upon him the next day. “He came with severe injuries. His eyeball had ruptured. We tried to repair it but since a lot of damage has occurred at the time of injury, the chances of visual recovery are very low,” said Suresh Kumar, head of department, Ophthalmology, GMCH.

His father Manjit Singh, who was accompanied by Jagjit Singh Dallewal, president, Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Sidhupur), to the hospital on Monday, was inconsolable. “He is my only son. We are small farmers and own just about two acres of land in our village in Shekhupur, Patiala,” he said between sobs, adding that his son holds a BA degree from Punjabi University.

As he introduced Mr. Dallewal to his son, he pointed towards the stitches around the young man’s injured eye. “Davinder cannot speak much. The left side of his face is swollen and talking too much could aggravate both, the pain and the swelling,” said the father.

The attack on farmers protesting at Shambhu is undemocratic, said Mr. Dallewal.