Cong to march towards Lakhimpur
- October 06, 2021
- Updated: 12:52 am
DW BUREAU / chandigarh
Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu has warned that the party's state unit will march towards UP's Lakhimpur Kheri if their leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is not released by Wednesday and Union minister Ajay Mishra's son not held for the murder of farmers. Priyanka Gandhi was detained by police on Monday in Uttar Pradesh's Sitapur as she was going to Lakhimpur Kheri to meet family members of the farmers killed in violence during a protest over Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya's visit on Sunday. While the party has questioned her detention, officials said on Tuesday that a case
has been registered against her and 10 others due to apprehension of breach of peace.
Eight people, including four farmers, had died in violence, with farmer leaders claiming that MoS Home Ajay Mishra's son Ashish Mishra was in one of the cars, which they alleged knocked down some protesters who were opposing the deputy CM's visit. "If, by tomorrow, the Union Minister's son behind the brutal murder of farmers is not arrested, and our leader @PriyankaGandhi being unlawfully arrested, fighting for farmers is not released, the Punjab Congress will march towards Lakhimpur Kheri!," tweeted Sidhu on Tuesday. On Monday, Sidhu along with several party MLAs had held a protest outside the Punjab Raj Bhavan here against the Lakhimpur Kheri incident. The Uttar Pradesh authorities on Tuesday agreed to the demand for a second post-mortem of a farmer killed in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident after his family refused to cremate him, while mortal remains of the three others were consigned to flames at their native places during the day. Family members of Gurvinder Singh (22) of Moharia village of Bahraich had refused to cremate him till a second autopsy is done, claiming that he was shot dead. They received support from farmer leader Rakesh Tikait and Punjabi singer Sonia Maan, who arrived in the village this evening.
Senior district administration officials confirmed that the second post-mortem of Gurvinder will be conducted at the district hospital. They said a vehicle has been sent to bring the body to the hospital post-mortem house. A team of experts has arrived at Bahraich district police line from capital Lucknow by helicopter for the autopsy, they said. Additional Director General of Police (Gorakhpur) Akhil Kumar and other senior civil and police officials had come to Moharia village to persuade the family to perform the last rites but when his kin and farmer leaders did not relent, a decision for a second autopsy was taken. "We don't want to conduct his last rites after a false post-mortem report," a relative said.
Sonia Mann, who has been actively supporting protests against the three central agri laws, also reached Gurvinder Singh's village and supported his family's demand. Gurvinder's family said that Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who is under detention in Sitapur, talked to his father over the phone. Maan accused the UP government of creating "pressure" through the district administration on the family. "The body will not be sent for last rites till a second post mortem is performed in Delhi," she said earlier. The mortal remains of the three other dead farmers, who were mowed down by a vehicle during a protest in Lakhimpur Kheri, were cremated at their native places. Among the farmers killed in the Sunday incident, two each were from Lakhimpur Kheri and Bahraich and the bodies were handed over to their families after a post mortem on Monday. The families of Lavpreet Singh (19), Nachattar Singh (65)and Daljeet Singh (42) agreed to the cremation after hours of negotiations involving police officials and farmer leader Rakesh Tikait.
Tikait was present when Satnam Singh performed the last rites of his son Lavpreet Singh in the family's agricultural field in Palia tehsil in Lakhimpur Kheri late in the afternoon. The mortal remains of Nachattar Singh of Dhaurahra tehsil in Lakhimpur Kheri were consigned to flames by his son Mandeep Singh, who is posted in Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB). In Bahraich, the family members of Daljeet Singh performed his last rites. The UP government is facing massive flak after eight people were killed in violence during a protest against the farm laws in Lakhimpur. Four of the dead were farmers who were allegedly knocked down by vehicles driven by BJP workers.
(editor@dailyworld.in)