Custodial Torture and the Farmer Protests: Stories from the Ground

In 2020–2021, the country witnessed one of the largest mass mobilisations in recent Indian history as farmers, many from Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh, gathered at the borders of Delhi to protest against the three farm laws. Over the months, controversies spiraled and narratives were polarised. Protesters were called everything from Naxals to Khalistanis. Amid all this noise, the true stories of custodial torture went largely unheard.

Between 2020 and 2021, I interviewed 20 protesters who had been picked up, detained, and in many cases, physically tortured by police during and after the protests. Here are three of their narratives.

“I Went to Serve Langar, They Called Me a Terrorist”

On December 12, 2020, Samar Singh (name changed) a 38-year-old electrician from Nehru Vihar, Delhi, went to the Singhu Border. He had gone to support the farmers by helping at the langar, unaware that within weeks, he would be branded a terrorist, illegally detained, humiliated, and assaulted by the very institutions meant to protect him.

Republic Day: “I Was There When the Nishan Sahib Was Hoisted”

On January 26, 2021, Samar rode his brother’s scooty from Majnu ka Tila to the Red Fort. He reached around 1:30 p.m., accompanied by a friend, Harpreet Kaur. Like hundreds of others, he witnessed the hoisting of the Nishan Sahib. What followed was chaos. “The police opened fire in front of me. I saw Akashpreet get hit by a bullet. There was firing near the main gate too.” Despite the violence, Samar managed to return home by 5:30 p.m., unaware of what awaited him.

First Visit to the Crime Branch

Three days later, on January 29, officers from the Crime Branch traced the scooty to his brother in Burari. They summoned Samar and Vipin Sharma (the scooty’s owner) to Maurice Nagar Police Station. “They asked us questions for 30 to 45 minutes. One cop accused me of breaking his shoulder. I denied it. Some questions were too humiliating to repeat.” They were allowed to leave, but surveillance had begun.

Abduction Disguised as Summons

On February 8, Samar received a call from someone who identified himself only as “Sanjay from Uttar Pradesh.” He was asked to report to the Crime Branch with ID proof. Once there, alongside others like Surjit, Ravi, Sandeep, and Davinder, they were made to wait for hours. “At one point, a cop said ‘When you were spilling blood on the 26th, then you weren’t allergic?’ because we had asked them not to smoke inside. They were mocking us.” Eventually, Samar and the others were taken to Civil Lines Police Station via a back route.

Detention Without Rights

“There were 50 policemen. They clicked our photos, abused us, and called us Khalistanis.” One officer pointed a revolver at him. Another, in civil dress, grabbed his genitals. “My private parts swelled. I need surgery now.”

They were not presented before a magistrate within the required 24-hour window. “At 1 a.m., SHO Ashok Kumar made us sign blank papers. We didn’t sleep. They gave us just one blanket in the cold. The next morning, I asked for soap; they refused.” A woman in plain clothes hurled gendered abuses and mocked their religious identity. “She called us behn ke laude, juari. She wanted the constable to beat us with batons.”

At 12:30 p.m. the next day, they were crammed into an RTV van and taken to Tihar's special court. “We saw Judge Jitender Pratap Singh. He didn’t ask us anything. Our lawyers spoke on our behalf. It felt more like a formality than a hearing.”

Sandeep Singh: “We Had No Way to Turn Back”

Sandeep Singh comes from a landless family of farm labourers and works at a Gurdwara that had organised langar for the protesting farmers. He was also labelled a Khalistani.

On January 26, the Gurdwara had arranged langar along a road crossing Rohini. When they learned that the farmers would not be taking that route, Sandeep and others moved to the flyover at Transport Nagar with a gallon of water. As they tried to return, they were blocked by police.

“The crowd was away from us because we had taken the flyover, and the crowd was on the road under it. The road back to the Gurdwara was blocked. All roads were barricaded. There was no way for us to return. The police asked us to keep moving forward.”

Eventually, they reached Lal Qila. “We parked the bike outside near the barricading. We did not go inside. After the tractors and trolleys went inside, we used our phones to navigate back to the Gurdwara. We had left around 11 a.m. and returned at 3 p.m. I don’t know when the Nishan Sahib was hoisted. I saw it later on Facebook.”

Sandeep’s story challenges the widely circulated narrative by right-wing media and social media accounts that the movement was led exclusively by wealthy, land-owning farmers.

“They Hung Me Upside Down”: The Case of Sukhpreet Singh

Sukhpreet Singh reached the Delhi protest site on December 2, 2020, with eight others from his village. They arrived on tractors and trolleys. During multiple visits to the Singhu Border, he took up the seva of washing clothes, often working alongside young men from Ludhiana.

He clarified that although he was present during the January 26 rally, he was not involved in any violence. On January 29, he and his friend Dharminder Singh were headed to an ATM in Narela when they got caught in a police crackdown.

Just 400 meters from Singhu Border, they heard tear gas canisters explode. As they turned back, they were attacked by a group of around 40 people, including 10 to 15 uniformed officers and others believed to be local residents. “They beat me mercilessly. An overweight policeman stepped on my stomach and beat me until I almost passed out.”

He was labelled a "paid protester" and a "terrorist" and forced into a bus to a police chowki, the name of which he does not remember. The officers wore plain clothes, and one had three stars on his uniform.

Torture in Custody

Sukhpreet and around 47 others were held in a police quarter-like setting. He was beaten for three hours, hung upside down, and interrogated. He was forced to confess falsely to owning weapons planted in the room. “We were given spicy food as a form of torture and denied water when we asked for it.”

According to him, 20 to 25 of the detained were tortured physically. Others, mostly elderly, had their beards pulled. On January 30 at 1:30 p.m., they were taken to a government hospital near Rohini. His bleeding hand was bandaged, but not cleaned, and his injuries were omitted from the report.

Conclusion

While the farmer protests brought millions to the streets, the stories of those who endured custodial violence remain at the margins. These narratives do not just speak of individual suffering, but of a system that actively suppresses dissent. From being falsely accused to facing inhuman treatment, these accounts underscore the urgent need for accountability and justice. As these cases remain unpublished and underreported, they stand as grim reminders of how power responds when confronted by resistance.