Lakhimpur Kheri violence: Supreme Court adjourns hearing till Nov 15

The Supreme Court on Friday adjourned the hearing in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence incident to Monday after senior advocate Harish Salve sought a few more days timeOn November 8 the top court had expressed its dissatisfaction with the SIT probe in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence incident with regards to the seizure of mobile phone of only one accused and the process of collection of evidence in the two FIRsIt told the Uttar Pradesh government that it wants to appoint a retired high court judge to monitor daytoday investigation till charge sheet is filed The bench had asked Salve to seek instructions from the state government on its suggestionToday Salve representing the Uttar Pradesh government sought a few more days time in the matterHe submitted before a bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana Would your Lordships give me time till Monday Ive almost got it doneHe added Were working something outAlso read lsquoBullets were fired from Ashish Mishrarsquos gunrsquoThe bench also comprising Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli agreed to Salves request and scheduled the matter for further hearing on MondayIn the previous hearing the top court had told a counsel We are trying to introduce impartiality and fairness in the matterThe Chief Justice had told Salve There is nothing in the status report We granted 10 days timelab reports have not come so far It the probe in the incident is not going the way we expectedThe top court had queried Salve that why mobile phones of all accused in Lakhimpur Kheri incident have not been seized except that of prime accused Ashish MisraJustice Kohli specifically asked whether it is the stand of the government that the other accused did not use cell phonesSalve submitted there were a total 16 accused in the case out of which three died and 13 have been arrestedKohli asked The mobile phones of one accused out of 13 accused has been seizedThe top court told the Uttar Pradesh government that both incidents mowing down of protesting farmers by a vehicle and the lynching of the accused have to be investigated with impartiality and fairnessThe top court said prima facie view it appears that one particular accused is being benefited by recording statements of witnesses in a particular mannerJustice Kant said What appears to us is that SIT is unable to keep the investigative distance between the FIRs one where farmers were mowed down by the car and the other accused were killedimportant to ensure evidence in 219 and 220 FIRs recorded independentlyThe bench stating it is not confident regarding the process adopted by Uttar Pradesh SIT to record the evidence said We are inclined to appoint a judge from a different high court to monitor daytoday investigationtill the charge sheet is filedThe violence occurred on October 3 resulting in the killing of eight persons including four farmers who were allegedly mowed down by the vehicles in the convoy of Ashish Misra the son of Union Minister and BJP MP Ajay Kumar MisraThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever