Farmers gathered at New Delhi's Singhu border. (Express file photo by Gajendra Yadav)A 49-year-old man from Punjab who was participating in the protest at Tikri border died Monday night, with police saying the cause of death remains unclear as of now. He is the seventh person taking part in the protests against the three farm laws to have died over the last 10 days — four died in an accident and three of natural causes.
According to Jhajjar police officials, the man has been identified as Mewa Singh from Punjab’s Moga district. “He was declared dead on arrival at Bahadurgarh General Hospital. The cause of death is unclear. His companions said he had a heart attack but this can only be confirmed after a post-mortem,” said DSP (Bahadurgarh) Pawan Kumar.
Singh had arrived at Tikri border on December 1 with farmers from Khote village. According to his companions, he came from a landless family and worked as a tailor. “He was from a family of landless labourers. He has a son, a 20-year-old, who works at a photo studio. He came to this site in solidarity with protesting farmers. This is why they say ‘mazdoor-kisaan ekta zindabad’,” said Paramjeet Singh, a farmer from the village.
At the protest site, Mewa Singh had been living in a trolley along with other residents from Khote. Naib Singh, also from his village and a member of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan), said the union has made a demand of Rs 10 lakh for Mewa Singh’s family from the Punjab government, as well as a government job for his son.