UP govt announces inquiry commission to probe Lakhimpur violence
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Lucknow: The Yogi Adityanath government announced a single-member inquiry commission to probe the violence that happened in Lakhimpur Kheri on Sunday, which claimed eight lives, NDTV reported. The announcement came on Thursday, ahead of a crucial hearing by a Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana.
A notification issued by the UP government, dated October 6th, read that in exercise of the powers conferred by section 3 of the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952 (Act no. 60 of 1952), the Governor is pleased to appoint Justice High Court, Allahabad (retd) Pradeep Kumar Srivastava as a single-member Commission of Inquiry with Headquarters at Lakhimpur Kheri.
The Commission will complete the inquiry within two months, the notification signed by Uttar Pradesh Additional Chief Secretary Awanish Kumar Awasthi said.
After the gory incident, fuming public outrage over the UP police handling of the investigation, media reports and letters received by the CJI from two lawyers from the state, the Supreme Court decided to take up the case. The lawyers' letter called for a CBI investigation under the top court's supervision.
A car belonging to Ashish Mishra (the son of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra) rammed into a crowd of protesters and took four lives, protest leaders claimed. Even after four days, despite being named in a complaint to police, Ashish was not yet arrested.
However, the police said they were investigating the crash and registered a case against 13 people, including Ashish Mishra.
Meanwhile, minister Ajay Mishra said that his son was not present at the spot, but the car driven by his driver lost control and hit farmers when the latter threw stones and attacked the vehicle with sticks and swords. Ashish Mishra also denied his presence at the place of the incident.
The Lakhimpur Kheri incident was the bloodiest yet among the prolonged farmers' protests against the union government's three farm laws. Two SUVs were also reportedly set on fire by angry farmers during the clash near Banbirpur.