The Supreme Court on Thursday sought a status report from the Uttar Pradesh government on the first information report (FIR) registered and arrests made in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri incident in which eight persons including farmers, were mowed down by a four-wheeler of Ashish Mishra, son of Union Minister Ajay Mishra Teni.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana termed the incident as “unfortunate” and directed Additional Advocate General (AAG) Garima Prashad, representing State of Uttar Pradesh, to get instructions on the status of the FIR as well as details about petitions pending before the Allahabad High Court in relation to the incident, reports Bar and Bench.
“There are farmers and others persons also have been murdered. we need to know who are the accused against whom FIR is registered and who is arrested. Please file a status report on this,” the Bench which also comprised Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli said.
The case will be heard again on Friday.
The AAG told the Court on Thursday that it is an unfortunate incident but an FIR has already been registered.
“SIT and judicial commission of inquiry has been constituted. FIR has been registered,” the AAG said.
“The grievance is that you are not looking into it properly and FIR is not registered properly. What are the details of the judicial commission,” the CJI asked.
“It is led by a retired High Court judge,” AAG responded.
The Court then sought details of public interest litigation petitions pending before Allahabad High Court on the issue.
“Get instructions and file what happened before the High Court,” the CJI told AAG.
The CJI also read a message received on the virtual hearing platform from advocate Amritpal Singh Khalsa. The message said the mother of one of the deceased Lovepreet Singh, was in a critical condition.
“Get her admitted to nearest medical facility immediately and extend all facilities to her,” the Court directed.
The case was taken up by the Supreme Court after two lawyers from Uttar Pradesh had written a letter to CJI NV Ramana seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
In their letter, advocates Shivkumar Tripathi and CS Panda also sought a direction to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs to ensure the registration of an FIR in the matter as well as punishment to the guilty parties involved in the incident.
The case had appeared in the causelist of the Supreme Court as a suo motu case.
The Court on Thursday said that it had asked the registry officials to register the letter as a public interest litigation case but matter was registered as a suo motu case due to miscommunication with the Registry.
“Due to miscommunication, it became a suo motu case. But it is fine. We will hear it,” the CJI said.
An FIR has already been registered against Ashish Mishra and several other persons in connection with the incident for murder, rioting and other offences.
