Greater Noida farmers' protests: Sachin Pilot released from police custody

Bhatta Parasul (Uttar Pradesh), May 22(ANI): Union Minister of State for Communication and Information Technology (IT) Sachin Pilot, who was arrested today for trying to enter Bhatta Parsaul village in Greater Noida to meet the protesting farmers, has been released from police custody.

The Uttar Pradesh police had arrested Pilot under Section 151 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which empowers police to arrest people without warrant or order from magistrate.

The farmers have been agitating since January demanding higher compensation for their lands acquired by the state government.

Their demand is that only half their lands should be acquired while the rest should be handed over to the farmers after development.

They also want 25 percent reservation for farmers in all schemes of Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway.

Apart from this, the farmers have also been demanding for the authorities to give 120 square metre plots to landless farmers and a compensation of rupees 5,00,000 for each acre of acquired land.

Bhatta Parsaul village had turned into a battlefield on May 7, resulting in the death of two Provincial Armed Constabulary personnel and one villager. Several others were also injured in the same incident, when a clash broke out between farmers and the police.

District Magistrate (DM) Deepak Aggarwal and Gautam Buddh Nagar Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) were grievously injured in the incident along with scores of others. (ANI)