TOBA TEK SINGH, Aug 9: The district and sessions judge on Friday granted pre-arrest bail to 68 farmers of Chak No 387 JB (Bara Allahar) till Aug 13 who were booked on charge of creating a breach in a canal.

Saddar police had registered a case under sections 430 and 431 PPC and MPO 16 against the farmers on the report of Irrigation Department’s Dhamman (Gojra) sub-divisional officer.

They had been charged with creating a breach in Jhang branch canal to irrigate their crops.

Later, the farmers told this correspondent that they had been implicated in the case by the irrigation department staff to cover up their inefficiency and negligence. They said that breaches had occurred many times which resulted in the destruction of the crops in various nearby villages.

When contacted, Jhang branch canal executive engineer said that the case was registered against the farmers a couple of days ago. He said that a delegation of farmers met Faisalabad circle superintending engineer and explained to him their point of view. The SE had ordered an inquiry into the incident, he said.

GIRL DIES: A girl died on Friday after she inhaled pesticides in Chak No 271 GB near Rajana.

A farmer had sprayed pesticides in his cotton crop fields. Musarrat Bibi went to fields to cut fodder for her cattle. She fell unconscious when she inhaled the pesticides and died before getting any medical aid.

RAPED: A girl was raped in Chak No 396 on Friday.

The girl ‘K’ was waiting for a bus near the Municipal Gardens on Jhang Road when Muhammad Akram and Nazir Ahmad forcibly took her to a nearby clinical laboratory where the former raped her.