• Friday, March 29, 2024

HEADLINE STORY

UP violence: Have the accused been arrested? asks top court

Farmers shout slogans as they burn an effigy of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath during a protest on the outskirts of Amritsar in the northern Indian state of Punjab on Wednesday, October 6, 2021. (Photo by NARINDER NANU/AFP via Getty Images)

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.

ALSO READ: Kolkata Durga Puja themed on UP farmer-crushing tragedy

“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).

UP violence: Have the accused been arrested? asks top court
The Supreme Court of India (Photo: Biplov Bhuyan/Getty Images).

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.

Related Stories

Loading