Accused in Lakhimpur case identified, Supreme Court told

The court added that accessibility or identification of the people in the vehicle that fatally mowed down four farmers should not be a problem when there was a gathering of at least 4,000 people.

The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday informed the Supreme Court that the accused have been identified by eyewitnesses in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, which left eight people, including four farmers, dead on October 3.

The FIR named Ashish Mishra and “15-20” unknown people — at least 12 of whom were arrested over the past few weeks. (HT PHOTO.)

“All 16 accused have been identified,” senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government, submitted before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana that is hearing the case registered by the top court on its own motion (suo motu) as a public interest litigation.

The bench, which included justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli, on October 20, told the UP Police to pull up its socks and record witnesses’ statements before a judicial magistrate under Section 164 as quickly as possible to dispel the impression that the state is “dragging its feet”. The court underscored that the witnesses’ statements before a magistrate will have greater evidentiary value, and thus, more sanctity during the trial.

Ashish Mishra, son of Union minister of state for home affairs Ajay Mishra ‘Teni’, who is named as an accused in the murder first information report (FIR) lodged by the farmers, was arrested on October 9, a day after the Supreme Court came down heavily on the state government for the police’s lenient handling of Mishra.

The FIR named Ashish Mishra and “15-20” unknown people — at least 12 of whom were arrested over the past few weeks. They have been identified by police as Ashish Mishra, Luvkush Rana, Ashish Pandey, Ankit Das. Latif alias Kaale,Shekhar Bharti, Sumit Jaiswal,Shishu Pal, Nandan Singh Bisht,Satya Prakash Tripathi alias Satyam, Mohit Trivedi, Rinku Rana and Dharmendra. Three of the accused were killed in the violence that followed the incident.

Salve, however, did not directly say if Mishra was among the accused identified by eyewitnesses. During the court proceedings, he did not take any names. The status report on the investigation is also not in the public domain and has been submitted to the court by the state government in a sealed cover envelope.

Salve began his arguments on Tuesday by pointing out that statements of 30 out of 68 witnesses have been recorded before a magistrate under section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and that a large volume of video evidence has been sent to the forensic science laboratories. Salve was reading out from the status report on investigation submitted confidentially to the bench.

At this, the bench pointed out that there should be more eyewitnesses in the case given the fact that the incident took place when a farmers’ rally, comprising around 4,000-5000 people, was going on.

“You ask your agency how many more can be added as eyewitnesses. Eyewitnesses’ evidence is more credible. It is always better to have first-hand evidence in these types of cases. We have some apprehensions...we are a little concerned about these issues,” the bench told Salve.

The court added that accessibility or identification of the people in the vehicle that fatally mowed down four farmers should not be a problem when there was a gathering of at least 4,000 people. “There has to be some witness who would stand and tell what the truth is. Identification is important,” said the bench.

To this, Salve replied that “all 16 accused have been identified”, and added that steps will be taken to record statements of more eyewitnesses before a magistrate.

The court then asked the state government about providing security to the witnesses in the case and later directed in its order to accord proper security to them. Seeking another status report by November 8, the bench further recorded in its order that the statements of all relevant witnesses will be recorded before a magistrate “expeditiously”.

At this point, senior advocate Arun Bhardwaj registered a complaint on behalf of the widow of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker Shyam Sunder Nishad, who was among the three lynched allegedly by the furious crowd after the offending vehicle ran over four among the protesting farmers.

Bhardwaj said that although Sundar’s widow has identified three assailants in the case, the UP Police has not bothered to register any first information report (FIR) against them while the deceased’s family is being threatened.

Also, senior advocate Harshvir Pratap Sharma contended that there has been no investigation into the killing of journalist Raman Kashyap in the same incident.

Responding, the bench said that it is “trying to balance everything” and asked the UP government to also file a status report on investigation regarding the FIR registered into the death of four persons, besides the farmers.

Salve assured the court that the state would look into the second FIR as well and file an appropriate report.

Hours later, the Uttar Pradesh Police arrested two people in connection with the deaths of two BJP workers and their driver in the violence at Lakhimpur Kheri three weeks ago. These are the first arrests made by the police in connection with a second FIR lodged in the case.

The incident on October 3, which has led to a political uproar in the state that goes to the polls early next year, claimed eight lives. Farm groups say a Mahindra Thar owned by Ajay Mishra mowed down protesters from behind while they were returning from a demonstration in Tikunia village on Sunday afternoon. A video clip that is yet to be authenticated forensically shows the same.

The minister and his son, however, deny the charge that the latter was in the vehicle and say farmers pelted the car with stones that led to the driver losing control of the vehicle.