Several lawyers led by Bar Council of Delhi member Rajiv Khosla and Senior Lawyer HS Phoolka gathered outside the Apex Court in Delhi on Sunday to show solidarity with farmers protesting against the recently passed farm laws & condemn the action taken by the Haryana Govt.

Phoolka said that "Supreme court lawyers have gathered here to stand in solidarity with the agitating farmers. Each & every citizen of the country has the right to protest. It is extremely irresponsible to level allegations against the farmers by saying that they are from this or that political party. They are simple farmers, many of whom are from my own village. What the Haryana government did to the farmers was very wrong. The government should heed the demands of the farmers".

This comes amid the massive Delhi Chalo march taking place in & around Delhi by farmers, mostly from Punjab & Haryana, demanding that the three Centre's farm bills be taken back.

Over the last few days, farmers have been met with tear gas shells, water cannons, lathi charges & blockades by the Haryana Police at the Punjab-Haryana border to stop them from reaching Delhi.

While speaking to the news agency, Rajiv Khosla claimed that this was a ploy by the Govt to ruin the justice system, & that a meeting would be held by the Bar Council on Dec 4 to discuss the matter.

He said that "This is a 'chaal' (ploy) by the government to ruin the justice system. The government has given power to ADMs & SDMs who are their puppets. They will only give justice to those the government wants to give justice to. Land will go into the hands of powerful people. Our first priority is to help & give justice to those who don't have it".

He added, "Potatoes, onions & tomatoes have been removed from the essential commodities list. Do you want the common man to die? They will have to buy onions for Rs 200 per kg. We will not let this happen. The Bar Council will hold a meeting on December 4 where we may decide to hold an all-India agitation."

Earlier in Sept, Khosla had written a letter to PM Narendra Modi regarding the jurisdiction of Civil Courts, which had been ousted from the new farm bill & said that the bill is more detrimental to lawyers & litigants.

Meanwhile, farmers held a meeting earlier in the day at the Singhu (Delhi-Haryana) border to discuss the plan regarding the protest. This is a key meeting since farmers are yet to decide on whether they will move to Burari after a request from the Centre.

In a bid to allay fears of farmers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his monthly radio programme 'Mann Ki Baat' earlier today said that the agricultural reforms had opened the doors of new opportunities for farmers & gave them more rights.

The PM said, "Recent agri-reforms have opened the doors of new opportunities for farmers. Decades-old demands of farmers which were promised by many political parties have now been met. Parliament has recently passed farm reform laws after rigorous brainstorming. These reforms have not only broken shackles of farmers but have also given new rights & opportunities to them".

The Farmer's Produce Trade & Commerce (Promotion & Facilitation) Bill, 2020 & the Farmers (Empowerment & Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance & Farm Services Bill, 2020 were passed by the Upper House in Sept through voice vote despite objection from opposition parties.

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