Lakhimpur Kheri: Letter to Supreme Court seeks high-level judicial inquiry into incident

New Delhi: A letter was sent to the Supreme Court on Tuesday seeking a high-level judicial inquiry, involving the CBI, under the supervision of the apex court into the 3 October Lakhimpur Kheri incident in which eight people were killed as violence erupted during a farmers’ protest. The letter by two advocates has urged Chief Justice of India NV Ramana to treat it as public interest litigation (PIL) so that guilty could be “brought to justice”. It has also sought direction to the Home Ministry and the police to register an FIR in the case and punish those allegedly involved in the incident. The letter, written by advocates Shiv Kumar Tripathi and C S Panda, has sought direction seeking the institution of a high-level judicial inquiry under the supervision of this court, involving CBI within a stipulated time. It said having regard to the seriousness of the killing of farmers, it is incumbent upon the apex court to intervene in the matter. Eight people were killed on 3 October as violence erupted during a farmers’ protest claiming the lives of both farmers and BJP workers ahead of a visit to Lakhimpur by Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya. The apex court, while hearing a plea by a farmers’ body protesting against the three new farm laws and seeking directions to authorities to allow it to stage ‘satyagrah’ at Jantar Mantar here, had on Monday observed that nobody takes the responsibility when such incidents happen. The observations by the top court had come when Attorney General KK Venugopal referred to the “unfortunate” incident at Lakhimpur Kheri. 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. Initially, the protests started from Punjab in November last year and later spread mainly to Delhi, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh.