Lakhimpur Kheri violence: Varun Gandhi writes to Adityanath, demands probe
The UP police took to Twitter early on Monday to describe the incident as “unfortunate” and said eight casualties have been reported till now as per the district administration.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Varun Gandhi has urged Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath to take strict action against the culprits of the Lakhimpur Kheri incident and suggested a Supreme Court-monitored probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a time-bound manner. In a letter addressed to Adityanath, the lawmaker from UP's Pilibhit also paid tributes to farmers killed in the incident and said that ₹1 crore compensation should be given to families of victims. Varun Gandhi requested Adityanath to "identify all suspects in the incident and take strict action against them by registering a murder case under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code." "In this regard, it will be suitable to bring all culprits to justice by a Supreme Court-monitored CBI probe in a time-bound manner," he said in the letter in Hindi on Sunday.
The BJP leader also paid his tribute to those killed in the incident and expressed condolences to their families. "The incident of brutal mowing down of farmers protesting in Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3 is heart-wrenching. It has caused rage and pain among citizens in the country... The incident is unforgivable. Protesters are our citizens. If they have problems with some issues and are protesting within their democratic rights then we should keep restraint and be patient while dealing with them," Gandhi said.
Meanwhile, the district magistrate of Lakhimpur Kheri has imposed section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) prohibiting the assembly of five or more people at a time in the district.
The UP police took to Twitter early on Monday to describe the incident as “unfortunate” and said eight casualties have been reported till now as per the district administration.
Many opposition leaders who had planned to visit Lakhimpur Kheri district today were stopped by the Uttar Pradesh administration.
Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav was detained following a sit-in protest outside his Vikramaditya Marg residence in Lucknow, after he was not allowed to go to Lakhimpur. Likewise, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel was today not given permission for his plane to land at the Lucknow airport. Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who was on her way to Lakhimpur Kheri to visit the kin of the victims, was arrested from Hargaon. Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) leader Shivpal Singh Yadav was detained by the Lucknow Police.
(With agency inputs)
