Form of words:
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Uttar Pradesh government to file a status report on the Lakhimpur Kheri incident.
Eight people, including four farmers, two BJP workers, a driver and a journalist, were killed in clashes on October 3 that followed violence after a convoy of three SUVs – one allegedly of Union Minister of State for Home Ashish Mishra’s son was owned by. Case Ajay Mishra ‘Theni’ – killed a group of protesting farmers, and incited violence.
A Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and Justices Suryakant and Hema Kohli directed UP Additional Advocate General Garima Prasad to file a report on the FIR registered in the matter and inform the court whether any arrests have been made.
The court also directed Prasad to obtain the details of the petitions pending in the Allahabad High Court regarding the incident.
During the hearing, Prasad described the incident as “unfortunate” and informed the court that a retired judge of the Allahabad High Court has been appointed to a judicial commission to probe the incident. He said that the status report will also contain details about this commission.
UP government appointed A single-member judicial commission comprising retired High Court judge Pradeep Kumar Srivastava to probe the incident. It has asked the commission to complete the investigation and submit a report within two months.
During the hearing, the court received a message that Lovepreet Singh, the mother of one of the deceased, is in a critical condition “due to the shock of losing her son” and requires immediate medical attention. The court directed the state counsel to immediately admit him to the nearest medical facility and provide all facilities to him.
The matter will be heard again on Friday.
Incident ‘Human Rights Violation’
The matter was initially listed as a suo motu petition.
During the hearing, the court said it had received a letter on the incident from two lawyers – advocate Shiv Kumar Tripathi and CS Panda – and then directed the registry to list the matter as a PIL.
However, it said that the case was registered as a suo motu petition due to some “miscommunication”. After this, the court asked both the lawyers who wrote the letter to be present in the court.
Advocate Tripathi addressed the court and termed the incident as a “violation of human rights” and alleged that the state government had not taken appropriate steps after the incident.
(Edited by Neha Mahajan)
Read also: Another death in Lakhimpur Kheri should not go unnoticed – Indian Media Credibility
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