Supreme Court relieves SIT in Lakhimpur Kheri violence case
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Monday relieved the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, saying it has already completed its probe and submitted a charge sheet in the trial court.
The case pertains to the incident of violence on October 3, 2021, in which eight people, including four farmers, were killed in Lakhimpur Kheri district's Tikunia.
Issuing the order on Monday, a bench of justices Surya Kant and Dipankar Datta also said that if there arises any necessity to reconstitute the SIT, an appropriate order shall be passed.
The apex court had appointed Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain, a former judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, to supervise on a day-to-day basis the Uttar Pradesh Police SIT's probe into the case.
Three senior IPS officers, S B Shirodkar, Deepinder Singh and Padmaja Chauhan, were part of the SIT.
The top court on July 11 had extended till September 26 the interim bail of Union minister Ajay Kumar Mishra's son Ashish Mishra, who is facing prosecution in the case.
The violence had erupted when farmers were protesting against Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya's visit to the area.
Four farmers were moved down by an SUV. A driver and two BJP workers were then allegedly lynched by angry farmers. A journalist also died in the violence that triggered outrage among opposition parties and farmer groups agitating over the Centre's now-repealed agri laws.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
