The Supreme Court has taken suo motu cognizance of the violence that took place on Sunday and led to the killing of eight people, including four farmers and a local journalist. The Court has listed the case for today after late on Wednesday night.
The matter will come up before the bench led by Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana which also comprises Justice Surya Kant and Justice Hima Kohli.
The Supreme Court took suo motu cognizance of the matter after there was a major outcry over Lakhimpur violence and a letter was also written to the Chief Justice by two lawyers from Uttar Pradesh. In the letter, they asked for a CBI probe that should go under the supervision of the Supreme Court. Similarly, two advocates had also moved the Allahabad High Court.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal had asked the court earlier on Wednesday that it should take suo motu cognizance.
Congress leaders Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi were finally allowed to visit the families of the farmers who were killed in the violence. On Wednesday night, Rahul and Priyanka visited the family of 19-year-old Lovepreet Singh and a 30-year-old local journalist, who was killed in the violence. The pictures and videos of the same are being widely circulated on the internet.
This comes even as the Uttar Pradesh government nominated retired Allahabad High Court Judge Pradeep Kumar Srivastava as the single-member commission of inquiry into the incident. The commission will be headquartered at Lakhimpur Kheri.
The order, signed by Uttar Pradesh Additional Chief Secretary Awanish Kumar Awasthi, said the commission shall complete the enquiry within a period of two months from the date of the issue of this notification.