Seven farmers, who had staged a sit-in protest against the acquisition of their land for SIPCOT at Tiruvannamalai, have reportedly been arrested under the Goondas Act recently. The matter came up for bail hearing in the Tiruvannamalai court on November 14 and adjourned to 20 November.
TN BJP leader K Annamalai has condemned the farmers’ arrest and took to X (formerly Twitter) to slam the DMK government for this. Annamalai wrote, “ While we think the DMK Govt can’t stoop any lower than its current state, they have proved us wrong by detaining farmers under the Goondas Act. Farmers in Tiruvannamalai district in TN have been protesting peacefully for the last 125 days against the government’s decision to acquire 3200 acres of agricultural land for the proposed sipcot. We condemn this cowardly act of the DMK Govt & @BJP4TamilNadu assures full legal support for the families of the detainees to ensure that the protesting farmers are protected from this Fascist DMK Regime.”
The State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (SIPCOT) reportedly wanted to acquire 3200 acres of agricultural land to develop a new industrial park. However, the farmers took to a sit-down protest that has lasted for 125 days.
Advocate M Anbazhagan sought bail for 20 farmers who had been booked under IPC sections 147, 341, 143, 294(b), 353 and 506(1), and the Public Property Act. Public prosecutor KV Manoharan reportedly told the judge, “The delay in the bail process is owing to the ongoing initiation of Goondas Act proceedings by the Tamil Nadu government against seven key farmers central to the protest in the SIPCOT land acquisition case.”