A day after a man’s body with a hand chopped off was found at the farmers’ protest site at the Singhu border, a plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking an urgent hearing of a pending petition which has sought removal of protesters.

The body of Lakhbir Singh, 35, from Punjab’s Taran Taran, was found tied to an overturned police barricade at the site where farmers are protesting against the three Central farm laws for over 10 months.

His body bore over 10 wounds caused by sharp-edged weapons and the incident is being blamed on a group of Nihangs.

Referring to the incident, a fresh plea has been filed for urgent hearing of the PIL, pending since March this year, saying, “The right to freedom of speech and expression cannot supersede the right to life and if this protest is allowed to go in like this, the nation at large will be at a loss.”

The interim application has been filed by Swati Goel and Sanjeev Newar in their pending PIL through lawyer Shashank Shekhar Jha.

“After the incident of mutilating and murder of the Dalit man, I have moved an urgent mentioning application before Supreme Court,” the lawyer said, adding, “Anti-human activities are happening in the name of protests, including rape of a woman and killing of and mutilating a Dalit man. It cannot be allowed to continue.”

Besides seeking the removal of protesting farmers, the plea has also sought the issuance of guidelines by the Centre to the states and Union Territories to stop all kinds of protests and not permit them until the pandemic gets over. PTI