Taking serious note of the the killing of eight people — including four farmers in the October 3 Lakhimpur Kheri incident — as ‘unfortunate’, the Supreme Court sought a status report by Friday from the Uttar Pradesh government on the accused named by the police in the first information report (FIR) and whether they have been arrested.
The apex court has also sought details of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) and the judicial enquiry commission, reportedly set up by the state government.
The incident, which triggered a major political storm with the opposition parties accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party government in UP of shielding the culprits, was heard by a bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana as a suo motu (on its own) case.
‘You yourself have pointed out, it has also been reported and it is in the letter petition, which we have received, that eight persons, some of them are farmers and one is journalist and there are other persons also who have been killed.
‘These all are unfortunate incidents in which different persons have been murdered,’ the bench said.
‘We need to know who are the accused persons against whom you have registered the FIR and whether they have been arrested or not. Please explain this in your status report,’ it said and fixed the case for hearing on Friday.
