Three women protesters from Mansa district of Punjab were killed and two others were injured when a speeding truck ran over them on the road divider near the Jhajjar flyover in neighbouring Haryana’s Bahadurgarh district early on Thursday.
A Jhajjar police spokesman said that the incident took place at 6.30am when the women protesting against the three farm laws were waiting for an autorickshaw to reach the Bahadurgarh railway station to board a train for Punjab.
“The women protesters were returning home on Thursday. They had been staying at the protest site in Bahadurgarh for the past few days. Farmers have been coming here and going back on rotation. The mishap occurred when these women were sitting on the road divider. Though the driver fled, we have impounded the truck that bears a Haryana registration number,” he said.
Farmers have been protesting against the Centre’s three farm laws and camping at Tikri border on the outskirts of Bahadurgarh for the past 11 months.
The three women who died have been identified as Chinder Kaur, 60, Amarjeet Kaur, 58, and Gurmail Kaur, 60, all residents of Mansa district.
One of the two women injured has been referred from Bahadurgarh’s civil hospital to Rohtak’s Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS), where her condition is stated to be critical.