SC seeks presence of 2 lawyers who wrote letter for probe into Lakhimpur Kheri incident

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The Supreme Court Thursday said it would like to hear the two lawyers who wrote a letter seeking a high-level judicial inquiry, also involving the CBI, into the Lakhimpur Kheri incident in which eight people were killed in violence during a farmers' protest.

A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana said that the letter was to be registered as a PIL and due to some "miscommunication" it was listed as the suo motu (on its own) case. "Does not matter, we will hear it nonetheless," said the bench, also comprising justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli. The bench asked the court officials to intimate the two lawyers - Shiv Kumar Tripathi and C S Panda - to appear and passed over the case.

"This letter is addressed by two lawyers. We directed the Registry to register this as a PIL but due to some miscommunication, it was listed as a suo motu.. . Inform both the lawyers who wrote the letter to be present," the CJI said. The matter may be taken up during the day. The incident has triggered a major political storm with opposition parties accusing the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh of shielding the culprits.

Four farmers were mowed down by an SUV in Lakhinpur Kheri when a group agitating against the Centre's three new farm laws was holding a demonstration against the visit of UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on October 3. Two BJP workers and a driver were beaten to death allegedly by the angry protesters, while a local journalist was also killed in the violence.

An FIR under section 302 of IPC (murder) has been registered against the Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra's son Ashish Mishra and others in the incident in Tikonia police station but no arrest has been made so far. Farmer leaders have claimed that Ashish was in one of the cars that allegedly knocked down the protesters but the minister has denied the allegations.

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