Uttar Pradesh: The Supreme Court resumed hearing in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case today, a week after it asserted that the probe should not be an ‘unending story’.
During the hearing the Uttar Pradesh government informed the Supreme Court that people have seen the car and the people who were inside the car. To which the apex court argued saying – if the eye witness is more credible than a bystander then it is best to have first-hand information.
Representing the state govt, Harish Salve told Supreme Court that out of 68 witnesses, statements of 30 witnesses have been recorded and 23 persons claim to be eyewitnesses of the incident. Citing the minimal number of eye-witnesses, the court questioned the UP govt on its evidences. It stated, ” there was a crowd of 4000-5000 persons who are all local people and even post-incident most of have been agitating. This is what has been reported. Then, the identification of these people should not be a problem.”
The Uttar Pradesh govt has been asked to file replies on the investigation on the killing of a journalist Raman Kashyap and one Shyam Sundar in Lakhimpur Kheri violence expeditiously. It further instructed forensic labs to expedite the process of submitting reports relating to videos of the incident Issuing the above instructions the apex court scheduled the next hearing for November 8th.
The bench comprising Chief Justice NV Ramana and justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli hearing the matter earlier observed the govt recorded statements under section 164 of the CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure) before a judicial magistrate and presented before court.