Union minister Ajay Mishra lost his cool at reporters in Lakhimpur Kheri on Wednesday, calling them "thieves" and lunging at one of them when they questioned him on the October 3 violence for which his son is among the accused.
Additional Advocate General for Uttar Pradesh Garima Prashad told a bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice J K Maheshwari that the crime is grave.
'If the minister does not resign, then it will be the darkest incident of Indian democracy where power prevailed over the people.'
The post-mortem reports of the two Dalit minor sisters who were found hanging from a tree in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri district confirmed that they were raped and strangulated, the police said on Thursday.
Lakhimpur Kheri had been one of the key attack points of the Opposition parties such as the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Congress against the BJP in the run up to the polls.
Union Minister Ajay Mishra's son Ashish Mishra on Saturday appeared before the special investigation team (SIT) formed in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case.
Annu Dhankar, who police referred to as 'Lady Don', was nabbed near the Indo-Nepal border in Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh.
In a message for the Congress, poll strategist Prashant Kishor on Friday said those looking for a quick revival of the grand old party-led opposition following the Lakhimpur Kheri incident are in for a big disappointment as there are no quick fix solutions to the "deep-rooted problems" of the party.
The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday appointed Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain, a former judge of the Punjab and Haryana high court, to supervise the Uttar Pradesh SIT's probe on day-to-day basis into the Lakhimpur Kheri violence in which eight people including four farmers were killed on October 3.
'Integrated with sensors, cameras, Nvidia Jetson processors, LiDAR technology and AI model computation, the glasses provide a real-time interpretation of the environment and the individual's surroundings.'
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge accused the BJP-RSS of carrying out a "well-planned conspiracy" against national heroes and said that Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's ideology was contrary to the RSS' ideas. He defended the relationship between Sardar Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru, saying they were "two sides of the same coin". He also criticized the BJP-RSS for their alleged attempts to appropriate the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel.
After over four months, Union minister Ajay Mishra's son Ashish Mishra was released from jail in Lakhimpur Kheri on Tuesday evening after fulfilling bail conditions pronounced by the Allahabad high court.
Two men were killed when a "speeding" car linked to a Bharatiya Janata Party legislator hit their motorcycle in a head-on collision in Lakhimpur Kheri, the police said on Monday.
A 25-year-old man was killed on a moving train in Telangana after he confronted four men who had stolen his money. The victim, Shashank Ramsingh Raj, was traveling from Secunderabad to Jhansi when the incident occurred. The thieves, who were later detained by the Government Railway Police (GRP), allegedly stole Rs 1,700 from Raj's pocket and also stole another passenger's mobile phone. When Raj confronted them, a brawl ensued, during which Raj was kicked and punched mercilessly. He later vomited blood and fell unconscious. Raj was pronounced dead upon arrival at Nagpur station. The case has been transferred to the GRP at Mancherial in Telangana.
Bhartiya Kisan Union-Tikait leader Dilbag Singh, a witness in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, was allegedly attacked by two unidentified men in Lakhimpur Kheri, the police said on Wednesday.
Two days on, regular activities were witnessed near the Lakhimpur railway station and other market places where vendors and shops were operating as usual.
The farmers' body said that after these remarks of the court, Teni has "no excuse left for him" to continue as the minister.
Earlier in the day, the state government had denied permission to Rahul Gandhi for the visit, and an official spokesperson had said that no one would be allowed to visit the violence-hit district to vitiate its atmosphere.
The victims have "unbridled participatory rights" from the stage of investigation till the culmination of the criminal proceedings and such powers are "totally independent, incomparable" with that of the State, the Supreme Court held on Monday.
Punjab farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said on Saturday that they have not received any message from the Centre for talks to address their issues and said a group of 101 farmers will again begin their march to Delhi on December 8.
A 'jatha' of 101 farmers will embark on a foot march to Delhi at 1 pm on Friday from the Shambhu border protest site, farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said on Thursday.
The Punjab Police chief, Gaurav Yadav, and a senior officer from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Mayank Mishra, visited fasting farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal at the Khanauri border point between Punjab and Haryana. They enquired about his health and heard his demands. Dallewal has been on a fast-unto-death since November 26 to press the Centre to accept the agitating farmers' demands, including a legal guarantee of MSP on crops. The visit came after the Supreme Court directed the Centre and Punjab government representatives to meet Dallewal and provide him medical help.
A 'jatha' of 101 farmers Friday began its foot march to Delhi from their protest site at Shambhu border, but was stopped a few metres away by a multilayered barricading.
Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel and Punjab Deputy CM Sukhjinder S Randhawa had announced that they would visit Lakhimpur on Monday.
A group of 101 farmers will march to Delhi on Friday from the Shambhu border protest site, farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher has said. The march will begin at 1 p.m. and the group will face heavy police and security presence. The farmers are demanding a legal guarantee for minimum support price of crops, a farm debt waiver, pension for farmers and farm labourers, no hike in electricity tariff, withdrawal of police cases and "justice" for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence. The farmers have been camping at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana since February 13 after their march to Delhi was stopped by security forces.
Dallewal has been on a fast-unto-death at the Khanauri border since November 26 to press the Centre to accept demands including a legal guarantee to the MSP on crops.
Jagjit Singh Dallewal, a 70-year-old Punjab farmer leader, is on his 21st day of a hunger strike demanding the Indian government address farmers' concerns, including a legal guarantee of MSP on crops. His health has deteriorated, and doctors have recommended immediate hospitalization. However, Dallewal, a cancer patient, has refused medical treatment.
Jagjit Singh Dallewal, a farmer leader, is on an indefinite hunger strike that has entered its 34th day. The Supreme Court has criticized the Punjab government for not shifting Dallewal to a hospital, while farmer leaders have said they are following Gandhian principles and it is up to the government to decide whether to use force to evict him. The farmers are protesting for several demands, including a legal guarantee for a minimum support price (MSP) for crops. The protests have reached a decisive stage, with the SKM (Non-Political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha calling for a Punjab bandh on Monday.
Punjab farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said no 'jatha' (group) of farmers will resume their foot march to Delhi on Tuesday. The farmers suspended their march after some were injured in teargas shelling by Haryana security personnel. Pandher accused the Centre of being confused on how the protesters should proceed to the national capital, citing contradictory statements from different ministers. He also criticized the government's lack of response to the hunger strike of farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, which has entered its 14th day.
Aiming to retain power at the Centre for the third time in a row, the Bharatiya Janata Party while banking heavily on its sitting MPs on Saturday released the first list of 51 candidates from Uttar Pradesh for the Lok Sabha elections.
According to the locals, Afsana was sleeping in her house in Pandohia village when a wolf attacked her and the marks of the animal's teeth were visible on her neck.
A group of 101 farmers resumed their foot march to Delhi on Sunday to press the Centre for various demands, including a legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price (MSP). However, they were stopped at the barricading by Haryana Police who cited a prohibitory order clamped by the Ambala administration. The farmers have been pressing for various demands, including a legal guarantee for MSP, a farm debt waiver, pension for farmers and farm labourers, no hike in electricity tariff, withdrawal of police cases (against farmers), and "justice" for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence. Reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013 and compensation to the families of farmers who died during the previous agitation in 2020-21 are also part of their demands.
The apex court had relaxed the interim bail conditions imposed on Mishra by the trial court on January 25. Mishra was asked not to stay either in Uttar Pradesh or in Delhi during the period.
The notable names in the BJP's first list include Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh from Lucknow, Hema Malini from Mathura, Ajay Mishra Teni from Kheri, Smriti Irani from Amethi, Lallu Singh from Faizabad (Ayodhya) and Mahendra Nath Pandey from Chandauli among others.
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of farmer organisations that spearheaded a protest at Delhi's borders in 2020-21 against three agriculture laws that have since been repealed, has said a resolution will be passed at the 'Kisan Mazdoor Mahapanchayat' to 'intensify the fight' against the Centre's policies.
Here are glimpses of famous faces who got their fingers inked.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Dipankar Datta relaxed the interim bail conditions imposed on Mishra by the court on January 25.
Yadav said in a post in Hindi on X, 'The BJP is warned not to come in the way of the public. Preventing voters from casting their votes is also a crime. The public has come to know about the conspiracy hatched by the BJP to prevent people from casting their votes by misusing power. BJP supporters are bent on violence...'
The Union ministers and farmer leaders had met earlier on February 8, 12 and 15 but the talks remained inconclusive.
The immediate challenge for the Centre and the home ministry is to ensure the conduct of assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir and restoration of its statehood.