SC seeks status report from UP govt on Lakhimpur Kheri violence by Friday; police summon Ashish Mishra for questioning

Terming “unfortunate” the killing of eight people including four farmers in the 3 October Lakhimpur Kheri incident, the Supreme Court Thursday sought a status report by tomorrow (Friday, 8 October) from the Uttar Pradesh government on the accused named by the police in FIR and whether they have been arrested.

The apex court has also sought details of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) and the judicial inquiry commission, reportedly set up by the state government.

The incident, which triggered a major political storm with the Opposition accusing the BJP government in UP of shielding the guilty, was heard by a bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana as a suo motu (on its own) case.

“You yourself have pointed out, it has also been reported and it is in the letter petition, which we have received, that eight persons, some of them are farmers and one is a journalist and there are other persons also who have been killed. These all are unfortunate incidents in which different persons have been murdered,” the bench said.

“We need to know who are the accused persons against whom you have registered the FIR and whether they have been arrested or not. Please explain this in your status report,” the top court said and fixed the case for hearing on Friday.

The bench, also comprising justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli, started by saying “grievance is that you are not looking into it (incident) properly and the FIR is not registered properly.”

UP Police summons Ashish Mishra for questioning

The Uttar Pradesh Police summoned Union Minister Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish for questioning,  Inspector General of Police Laxmi Singh told PTI.

“If Ashish Mishra does not abide by the summons, legal procedure will be adopted,” she told reporters. IG Singh, however, said that there was no time limit in the summons sent to Ashish Mishra.

The Union minister’s son has been named in an FIR lodged in connection with the October 3 incident under IPC section 302 (murder).

 Ashish is one of the main accused in the violence case and has been charged under eight sections of the IPC including murder, rioting, and criminal conspiracy. Ashish and his father Ajay Mishra have been consistently claiming that Ashish was not at the spot of incident.

“Allegations against me are completely baseless and I demand a judicial inquiry into this matter and the culprits should get punished,” Ashish had said.

Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh Police on Thursday arrested two persons — Luv Kush and Ashish Pandey — for their role in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri violence in which eight persons including four farmers had lost their lives on Sunday.

The arrests were made after the Supreme Court questioned the state government about the action taken in connection with the case. The cops have also detained three persons.  

Varun Gandhi, mother Menaka excluded from top BJP body

BJP on Thursday constituted a new national executive committee with 80 members, dropping two prominent leaders – party MP Varun Gandhi and former union minister Chaudhary Birender Singh, both of whom have been critical of the contentious farm laws, reports said.

Apart from its top brass that includes Prime Minister Narendra Modi, defence minister Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah, it has party veterans LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi as its members. Varun had been tweeting videos of the incident demanding action against the son of Union Minister of State, Home Affairs Ajay Mishra Teni.

Navjot Singh Sidhu’s convoy stopped at Haryana-UP border

Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu’s convoy en route to Lakhimpur Kheri was stopped at the Haryana-UP border on Thursday. He was leading a vehicular march to the district to protest against the violence that took place last Sunday.

While the UP administration asked Sidhu to go on with only five people, the politician insisted on marching on with entire the convoy, reports News18.com.

Before leaving for Lakhimpur Kheri, Sidhu said, “If the accused (in the case) is not arrested or does not join the investigation, I will sit on hunger strike, wherever I am.”

Mother of 19-yr-old victim suffers cardiac arrest; SC asks UP govt to bear medical bill

Lawyer Garima Prasad, appearing for the state government, also termed the incident as unfortunate and said that an SIT and the judicial commission of inquiry have been set up by the government and she may provide the details in the status report.

“I can get details by tomorrow… The judicial commission of inquiry is being led by a former judge of the Allahabad High Court judge,” she said and sought a copy of the letter whose cognizance has been taken by the bench.

“You also tell us about the status of the PIL before the Allahabad High Court in the case…tomorrow we are listing. Get all the instructions,” the bench observed orally.

During the brief hearing, the CJI referred to a message to the court.

“We have received one message when the hearing is going on from one Amrti Pal Singh Khalsa that the mother of the deceased Lovepreet Singh is in critical condition due to shock of loss of her son. She needs immediate medical assistance. This says that the court may direct the state of UP to grant medical facilities to her… You (state lawyer) please, immediately tell your state government so that it can take care of the mother of the deceased…extend all medical facilities. You can get her admitted in a nearest government medical college,” the bench observed.

Suo motu vs PIL

Earlier in the day, the top court said it would like to hear the two lawyers who had written a letter seeking a high-level judicial inquiry, also involving the CBI, into the Lakhimpur Kheri incident in which eight people were killed in violence during a farmers’ protest.

The bench said that the letter was to be registered as a PIL and due to some miscommunication it was listed as the suo motu (on its own) case.

“Does not matter, we will hear it nonetheless, said the bench, also comprising justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli.

The bench asked the court officials to intimate the two lawyers - Shiv Kumar Tripathi and C S Panda to appear and passed over the case.

“This letter is addressed by two lawyers. We directed the Registry to register this as a PIL but due to some miscommunication, it was listed as a suo motu.. . Inform both the lawyers who wrote the letter to be present,” the CJI said.

The matter was again taken up and adjourned to tomorrow after the oral directions to the state government.

Harish Rawat stopped at border en route to Lakhimpur

Senior Congress leader Harish Rawat and others were stopped by the district administration at the Uttar Pradesh-Uttarakhand border near Baheri toll plaza as they arrived here on their way to Lakhimpur Kheri to meet the families of the victims of violence during a farmers’ protest that left eight people dead.

According to Bareilly Superintendent of Police (Rural) Rajkumar Agrawal, Rawat arrived here with a large number of people. The police told him that he can pass through Bareilly with his security men to go to Lakhimpur Kheri, but he did not agree to this.

Rawat, Uttarakhand Congress chief Ganesh Godiyal and others sat on the highway with their supporters and raised slogans.

Rawat said, “Our struggle is dedicated to the deceased farmers. We were going to meet the families of the farmers who lost their lives in this struggle for their democratic rights but were not allowed.”

“Today, when the farmer raises his voice, he is crushed to death by a car and when (Congress leader) Priyanka Gandhi goes to meet the suffering farmers, she is arrested. But those who are accused of killing the farmers are yet to be arrested by the police,” he said, adding that democracy is in danger in the country.

Akhilesh Yadav blames BJP-link for delay in Ashish Mishra’s arrest

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday said Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra’s son has not yet been arrested in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case even though evidence pointed to his role in the incident.

“The BJP is doing politics and it is a clever party. We want to know what was done in the Kanpur Manish Gupta case. Why are policemen still absconding. Why an absconding IPS officer is not arrested?” Yadav told.

“Those named in the FIR should go to jail. Government should take immediate action and the matter should be probed by a sitting judge of the High Court. There are videos clips, statements of eyewitnesses, the statement (of minister) in which he is threatening. As he (accused Ashish Mishra) is the son of the MoS, action has note been taken yet,” he said.

“Do you think farmers can get justice till he (father of accused) is MoS?” he asked.

CPI(M) condemns incident, dubs it ‘gruesome attack’ on farmer’s protest

The CPI(M) on Thursday said the “gruesome attack” on protesters in Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh marked a “new level of violence” against the farmers’ movement that has been going on for the last 10 months.

The latest editorial in the party’s mouthpiece, “People’s Democracy”, said the “brazen attack” on the farmers came in the backdrop of the Centre “hardening” its position on the farmers’ agitation against three new farm laws.

“The attack on the farmers followed a few days later. The statements of the BJP ministers and leaders have assumed a tone of desperation seeing the continuing intensity of the farmers’ movement and their inability to disrupt it,” the editorial said.

When it is alleged that a Union minister of state is responsible for provoking such a violent incident, in which his own son is involved, it is the “elementary duty” of the prime minister and the government to remove him from this position, the editorial said.

“But this has not been done. The prime minister and the Union home minister have not even condemned the killing of the farmers. The prime minister did not even refer to the incident during his visit to Lucknow two days later.

“The violence unleashed on the protesting farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri is an act of desperation on the part of the ruling party. Such violence cannot cow down the farmers’ struggle,” it added.

Overview of the incident

Four farmers were mowed down by an SUV in Lakhimpur Kheri when a group agitating against the Centre’s three new farm laws was holding a demonstration against the visit of UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on October 3.

Two BJP workers and a driver were beaten to death allegedly by the angry protesters, while a local journalist was also killed in the violence.

An FIR under section 302 of IPC (murder) has been registered against the Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish Mishra and others in the incident in Tikonia police station but no arrest has been made so far.

Farmer leaders have claimed that Ashish was in one of the cars that allegedly knocked down the protesters but the minister has denied the allegations.

Several farmer organisations are protesting against the passage of three laws – The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 and Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 since last November.

The apex court had stayed the implementation of these laws in January.

Initially, the protests started from Punjab in November last year and later spread to Delhi, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh.

With inputs from PTI