JOIN USSC asks UP govt to give details of action taken in Lakhimpur Kheri incident
The Supreme Court on Thursday told the Uttar Pradesh government to file a status report as to who were the persons named as accused in the case related to "murder of eight people" in Lakhimpur Kheri case and whether they have been arrested or not.
A bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli sought all details by Friday, even as Uttar Pradesh counsel senior advocate and Additional Advocate General Garima Prasad said it was an "extremely unfortunate incident" and the investigation was already on in the matter.
She also submitted that a special investigation team and a judicial commission of inquiry have been set up by the state government.
"There is a grievance that you are not properly investigating. It is in the petition that eight persons, farmers and a journalist have been murdered. We need to know who are accused against whom FIR has been filed and if they have been arrested," the bench asked her.
She sought time to file a status report by Friday.
The court also asked her to give details of PILs filed in this regard in Allahabad High Court.
The top court, which had earlier on Wednesday registered 'In Re Violence in Lakhimpur Kheri (UP) leading to loss of lives' as a suo motu case, directed its registry to treat the matter as a PIL, since it was taken up on a letter petition sent by advocates Shiv Kumar Tripathi and C S Panda. In a joint letter, they sought CBI probe into the matter.
The Sunday incident at Lakhimpur Kheri has come under vociferous attack from the Opposition leaders. Farmers' outfits have claimed that a car ferrying Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra's son Ashish ran over a group of protesters gathered to oppose a programme attended by Uttar Pradesh's deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya.
Farmers in Punjab, Haryana and Western UP have been protesting for over one year demanding repeal of three contentious farm laws, already stayed by the top court on January 12.
During the hearing, on a request by advocate Amritpal Singh Khalsa, the court directed the state government to give immediate medical care to mother of Lovepreet Singh, one of the deceased farmers, who was in a state of shock after the October 3 incident.
"We received a message right now that mother of the deceased is in critical condition, due to shock of loss of son and is in need of urgent medical attention. Immediately communicate to the state government and take care and provide all medical facilities," the bench told Prasad.
Petitioner Tripathi, who could barely connect to the virtual hearing due to technical glitches, complained that the state government did not act properly to prevent the "ghastly incident".
The top court put the matter for consideration on Friday.
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