The Punjab and Haryana high court on Thursday ordered a judicial probe into the death of Shubhkaran Singh, a 21-year-old farm protester during the agitation for legal guarantee of MSP at Khanauri border on February 21.

The high court bench of acting chief justice GS Sandhawalia and justice Lapita Banerji also questioned protesting farmers for creating a “war-like situation” and using women and children as a shield during the protest.

The court was hearing a clutch of petitions — some seeking restraint orders on the farmers’ Delhi Chalo march, others seeking removal of barricades and restrictions put in place by the state governments for thwarting the march. A few more petitions were filed after the February 21 violence, seeking a probe into the Haryana Police action against the protesters at Shambhu and Khanauri borders.

The detailed order is awaited.

However, during the hearing, the bench observed that for “obvious reasons” the probe can’t be handed over to Haryana and Punjab and said that a retired judge would preside over the probe panel and two officers of the rank of ADGP from both the states would be part of the panel.

The court also questioned Punjab on the delay in initiating a probe into the death of Shubhkaran Singh from Ballo village in Bathinda district that led to his cremation on February 29 after Punjab Police registered an FIR into his death.

The court also questioned Haryana about the kind of bullets and pellets used on February 21 and asked it to submit details.

When the Haryana government showed photos of protests of February 21 in which children and women could be seen in the front, the court took petitioners from farmers’ side to task. “Children are being used as shield, This is absolutely shameful. It is a sad state of affairs, children who are supposed to study in school are shown what they should not be…it was a war-like situation,” the bench orally remarked.

Demanding a law on the minimum support price (MSP) for all crops, the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission’s formula, full debt waiver for farmers, pension for farmers and labourers, withdrawal of cases against farmers during the 2020-21 protest, hundreds of farmers are camping at Shambhu near Ambala and Khanauri border in Jind in response to the Delhi Chalo agitation spearheaded by the Punjab Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) and Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Sidhupur). They were stopped at these two places on February 13 and since then are camping there. Four rounds of talks of farmer leaders with the Centre have failed.

Violence broke out on February 21 at both the protest sites as farmers unsuccessfully tried to break the barricades and march towards Delhi. Scores of security personnel and protesters had suffered injuries at Khanauri border. Shubhkaran succumbed to his injuries at Government Rajindra Hospital in Patiala.