Chandigarh, May 18 (IANS): A Punjab Police officer has been caught on camera slapping a middle-aged woman farmer at a village in Gurdaspur district, the video of which has gone viral on social media.

As per reports, the farmers were protesting against land acquisition for a Bharatmala project, which involves the construction of highways, in the area.

Sharing the video on Twitter, BJP leader Jaiveer Shergill said, "Shameful act of slapping a women farmer by Punjab Police official in a village in Gurdaspur. @PunjabPoliceInd must take strict action against this individual."

The alleged manhandling of the woman has sparked statewide protests by the farmers against the acquisition of land for the Bharatmala project.

Hundreds of activists of Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC) squatted on railway tracks at several towns and blocked rail traffic over inadequate compensation for the land acquired for the project.

KMSC spokesperson Gurbachan Singh Chabba said the farmers were protesting over the compensation issue in connection with acquisition of land.

Coming out in the support of the farmers, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) condemned the 'repression' let loose on the farmers and demanded action against the guilty, besides a high-level probe into the entire incident of assaulting the woman.

In a statement issued here, senior SAD leader Daljit Singh Cheema said, "The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government and its Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, who also holds the home portfolio, have exposed their real face. Instead of listening to the grievances of the protesting farmers, this anti-farmer government has chosen to thrash and detain them and even manhandled women and the elderly."

Asserting that no government should act in such a dictatorial manner, Cheema said, "It would have been better had the Chief Minister called the farmers and listened to their grievances instead of summarily evicting them from their land."

He also expressed solidarity with the farmers and demanded that they be given a sympathetic hearing.