Defiant farmers hold officials hostage, force them to burn stubble in Punjab

A group of farmers in the Bathinda district of Punjab allegedly compelled a government official, who was a member of a team tasked with preventing farm fires, to burn the stubble that was left in a field on Friday, thereby courting controversy.

The incident was made public after Bhagwant Mann, the chief minister of Punjab, uploaded a supposedly complete footage of it on his X account.

Mann denounced the act and stated that an FIR report had been filed.

The event happened within the boundaries of the Nahian Wala police station in Mehma Sarja village, according to Bathinda Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Gulneet Singh Khurana.