- Tuesday, February 25, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
THE Supreme Court of India on Thursday (7) asked the government of the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh about the accused in the October 3 violence in the state’s Lakhimpur Kheri district and whether they have been arrested.
Eight people were killed in the violence that resulted after a car rammed into a group of protesting farmers, killing four.
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“Who are the accused and have they been arrested?” the top court said while heading a case in connection with the incident in Lakhimpur Kheri. The matter was set to be heard again on Friday (8).
The UP government announced a single-member commission to probe the incident hours before the hearing before the apex court.
Meanwhile, India’s minister of state for home affairs Ajay Mishra, whose son Ashish has been accused of the murder, maintained that the latter was not in the car that mowed down the farmers. The UP Police though has filed a first-information report against Ashish. Ajay Mishra met Indian home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday (6).
In Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena-led government has called for a statewide strike on Monday (11) to protest against the violence in Lakhimpur Kheri.
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of several protesting farmers’ unions, has reiterated its demand for the arrest of Ashish Mishra and the sacking of his father and the chief minister of another northern state Haryana, Manohar Lal Khattar.
Both UP and Haryana are ruled by prime minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.
