Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Thursday demanded a probe by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court or a high court into the Lakhimpur Kheri violence. She also said that Union Minister Ajay Mishra Teni, whose son is among those booked, should resign to ensure an impartial probe. “In my view and that of the victims’ families as well, the case should be probed by a sitting Supreme Court or high court judge, and not the retired judge,” she said.
The state government, on Thursday, had appointed retired high court judge Pradeep Srivastava to probe the Lakhimpur violence. Retired Allahabad High Court judge Pradeep Kumar Srivastava has been named to enquire into the eruption of violence on Sunday on the Tikonia-Banbirpur road in Lakhimpur Kheri district.
The state government has already issued a notification on the constitution of the commission which will be headquartered at Lakhimpur Kheri. It has been given two months’ time to complete the probe. “The Governor is pleased to appoint Justice High Court, Allahabad (retd) Pradeep Kumar Srivastava as a single-member Commission of enquiry with Headquarters at Lakhimpur Kheri,” the notification dated October 6 said. ‘The Commission shall complete the enquiry within a period of two months from the date of the issue of this notification. Any change in its tenure shall be at the behest of the Government,” it added.
“I will continue my fight till the minister is sacked and his son is arrested. I have pledged this before the families,” she said.
The Uttar Pradesh Police has lodged a case against the minister’s son Ashish Mishra in connection with the violence, but no arrest has been made yet. Four of the dead were farmers, allegedly knocked down by vehicles driven by BJP workers travelling to welcome Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya to an event in the area. The other four were two BJP workers, a driver of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Kumar Mishra, and Raman Kashyap, a journalist working for a private TV channel. While the first three were allegedly lynched by the agitating farmers, the scribe, according to his father, died after being hit by a vehicle when he was covering news of farmers’ protest against Maurya’s visit to Ajay Kumar Mishra’s native place.
