The Trinamool Congress (TMC) questioned the Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday about the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, in which eight persons were killed in violence on October 3, including four farmers, and asked why the state had made no arrests despite having abundant evidence.
TMC Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev questioned the UP government and said, “What is the reason that the Uttar Pradesh police and the state government have failed to make an arrest? To my mind, one reason is that the accused is the son of that Minister of State (MoS), Home. I welcome the view of the Supreme Court that called for a report and asked for who is the accused.”
“Journalists get arrested straight away if anything is written against PM Modi, but here there is the murder of farmers and the BJP government has done nothing. I hope the SC monitors this,” Dev added.
The Supreme Court today asked the Uttar Pradesh government to submit a status report on who is accused, who has an FIR filed against them, and who has been arrested. The case has been scheduled for a hearing the following day.
The Uttar Pradesh government responded to the apex court by announcing the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) and a single-member enquiry committee to file a status report on the occurrence. “An enquiry committee cannot say arrest or do not arrest; that’s under the jurisdiction of the police. There is enough evidence and when the accused is a son of such a powerful man, he will run away. They are giving him time for that,” she claimed.
A single-member Commission of Enquiry, headed by retired High Court Judge Pradeep Kumar Srivastava and based in Lakhimpur Kheri, was established today to look into the deaths of eight people on October 3 in Lakhimpur Kheri.
Several videos of the incident have circulated on the internet. Many people are sharing another 44-second video on social media. When two cars ploughed into a gathering of farmers, the video shows them holding black flags and staging a protest.
Opposition parties questioned the investigation and urged Ashish Misra, Ajay Mishra’s son, to be arrested immediately, as well as the resignation of Union Minister of State (MoS) for Home Affairs.
Opposition parties have questioned the investigation and have called for Ashish Misra, the son of Union Minister of State (MoS) Ajay Mishra, to be arrested immediately, as well as the resignation of the MoS.
On Sunday, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of several farmer unions, issued a statement regarding the incident, alleging that one of the four farmers was shot dead by Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra Teni’s son, Ashish Mishra, and the others were allegedly run over by his convoy’s vehicles.
SKM’s charges were contradicted by Ashish Mishra, who stated that he was not there at the time of the occurrence. According to MoS Teni, his son was not present at the spot, and that some miscreants mingled with protesting farmers and threw stones at the automobile, resulting in the “unfortunate incident.”
On Sunday, eight people were killed in Lakhimpur Kheri as a result of the violence that erupted after a car slammed into protesting farmers.
