The Supreme Court intervenes, and a CJI-led bench will hear the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case today

New Delhi: The Supreme Court will hear the Lakhimpur Kheri case on Thursday, in which nine people were killed, including four farmers, when violence erupted during a farmers’ protest on Sunday.

According to the cause list posted on the Supreme Court’s website, the case will be heard by a three-judge bench consisting of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli. The incident has been classified as ‘violence in Lakhimpur Kheri resulting in loss of life.’

On October 3, nine people were killed when violence erupted during a farmers’ protest, killing both farmers and BJP workers ahead of Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya’s visit to Lakhimpur.

The Supreme Court has taken suo moto cognizance of the violence in Lakhimpur Kheri after two apex court lawyers wrote to the Chief Justice requesting that the CBI conduct an investigation into the incident under the supervision of the top court. “With regard to the seriousness of the killing of the farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh, it is incumbent upon this Hon’ble Court to intervene in the matter as flashed in the press,” wrote advocates Shiv Kumar Tripathi and CS Panda in their letter.

According to the lawyers, violence has recently become the country’s political culture. According to the lawyers, there is a need to protect the rule of law in ‘violence-ravaged Uttar Pradesh, as evidenced by media reports.

According to the letter, the Lakhimpur Kheri incident calls for action against the UP government and the concerned bureaucrats, as well as the ‘law-breaking police’ machinery under the administrative control of the Ministry of Home, in order to bring the “cult of violence to a halt.”

Meanwhile, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra met with the families of farmers killed in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence late on Wednesday and promised them full support. They arrived in Lakhimpur after the Uttar Pradesh government granted them permission to visit the troubled district. Later that night, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi told reporters that all three families she met wanted justice.

A delegation from the Samajwadi Party, led by Akhilesh Yadav, will arrive in Lakhimpur Kheri today. BKU leader Rakesh Tikait had demanded the resignation of Union minister Ajay Mishra and the arrest of all accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident on Wednesday, threatening a nationwide agitation if authorities failed to implement the agreement reached with farmers here within a week.

Tikait, one of the prominent leaders of the agitation against the Centre’s Agri laws, brokered an agreement between the authorities and the farmers on October 4 here, after which they ended their protest and the families of the four deceased farmers agreed to a post-mortem examination.

Following an agreement, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar informed Tikait of the government’s decision to award Rs 45 lakh to each of the victim farmers’ families and to establish a judicial probe led by a retired High Court judge.

“Our protest is not over. We will wait until eight days have passed since the agreement, and if the demands are not met, a nationwide agitation will be launched “Tikait told reporters on Wednesday at a Gurdwara in Lakhimpur city.

The deadline falls on the 10th day of the Sikh community’s Antim-Ardas ceremony (post-death ritual). An FIR has already been filed in Tikonia police station under section 302 of the IPC (murder) against the Union Minister’s son Ashish Misra and others in connection with the incident.

Misra’s son Ashish is the only named accused in the FIR filed at the district’s Tikoniya police station. In addition to him, the FIR names 15-20 other “unidentified persons” as defendants.

However, the minister has denied his son’s involvement in the incident, which occurred near his native Banbirpur village. Meanwhile, Mishra returned to the office in Delhi on Wednesday and met with Union Home Minister Amit Shah for the first time since his son was charged with murder on Sunday.

Mishra is said to have informed Shah about the incident in his home district of Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh, on Sunday.