News Analysis India

Tag: Lakhimpur Kheri farmer deaths

  • Govt giving message that those in power can do anything: Priyanka on Lakhimpur Kheri violence

    By PTI

    BAHRAICH: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who arrived here on Thursday to meet the families of two farmers killed in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence, said by allowing Union minister Ajay Kumar Mishra to continue on the post, the Centre is giving the message that those in power can do anything.

    The Union minister’s son, Ashish Kumar Mishra, and others have been booked in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri violence that erupted during a farmers’ protest on Sunday.

    “If the minister of state for home does not resign nor is he sacked, then it means that the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is giving a message to the public that if someone is in power, if he is a minister, he can do anything,” Gandhi told reporters in Moharnia, where she met the family members of Gurvinder Singh, one of the four farmers killed in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.

    “The message that is coming out of it is that if someone is in power, is a minister or a BJP leader, he can do anything. There is no justice for the common people, the poor, farmers, Dalits and women. I want to tell Narendra Modiji that this is the message that he is giving to people,” she said.

    On her meetings with the bereaved families since Wednesday, when the Uttar Pradesh government released her from detention and allowed her to go to Lakhimpur and Bahraich , the Congress general secretary said, “We have met the families of all the deceased farmers. Everyone says they are not bothered about the compensation, they are only concerned about the dismissal of the minister of state for home and the arrest of the criminals.”

    She also said the families of the victims have some video clips of Sunday’s incident that show what transpired that day.

    “The family members have said that they want justice,” she stressed.

    Gandhi’s convoy of vehicles was stopped by the district administration near the Ghaghra Ghat bridge as soon as it entered Bahraich from Barabanki as section 144 of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) was in force and the Congress workers accompanying her raised slogans against the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh in protest.

    The magistrate and the police officers present on the spot subsequently allowed only Congress leaders Naseemuddin Siddiqui and Tanuj Punia, who had come with Gandhi, to proceed along with her to meet the families of the deceased farmers.

    The Congress general secretary, who has met the family members of five of the eight people killed in Sunday’s violence, said she also wanted to meet the kin of the BJP workers who lost their lives.

    “I had asked the IG to enquire if they (the BJP workers’ families) were ready for the same but was outrightly told that they do not want to meet me. I asked for conveying my sympathy to them,” she added.

    On her way to Bahraich, Gandhi also performed a “puja” at a temple in the Arjunganj area of Lucknow.

  • SC takes cognisance of Lakhimpur Kheri incident, CJI-led bench to hear matter on October 7

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has taken cognisance of the Lakhimpur Kheri incident in which eight people were killed in violence during a farmers’ protest, with a bench headed by Chief Justice of India N V Ramana scheduled to hear the matter on Thursday.

    The incident has triggered a major political storm with opposition parties accusing the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh of shielding the culprits.

    According to the case list uploaded on the apex court website, a three-judge bench comprising CJI Ramana and justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli would hear the matter titled ‘In re violence in Lakhimpur Kheri (UP) leading to loss of life’ on Thursday.

    Four farmers were mowed down by an SUV in Lakhinpur Kheri when a group agitating against the Centre’s 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.

    Additional Director General (Law and Order) of the state Prashant Kumar had announced on Monday that the government will order a probe headed by a retired high court judge and give compensation of Rs 45 lakh each to the families of the dead farmers.

    Their kin will also get a government job, the injured will get Rs 10 lakh, he said.

    Two lawyers had on Tuesday written a letter to the CJI seeking a high-level judicial inquiry, involving the CBI, under the supervision of the apex court into the incident.

    The letter by the two advocates had urged the CJI to treat it as public interest litigation (PIL) so that guilty could be “brought to justice”.

    It had also sought direction to the Home Ministry and the police to register an FIR in the case and punish those involved in the incident.

    The apex court, while hearing a separate 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 K K 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 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.