Dodging the police and media alike in Uttar Pradesh, Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi eventually surfaced suddenly in Nighasan town of Lakhimpur-Kheri district, about 170 km from Lucknow, to call on the family of the minor girl who was brutally done to death in the local police station premises exactly 19 days ago.
Even as two of the three accused cops were still at large, the Uttar Pradesh government was planning to now book three doctors for destruction of evidence in the case of alleged rape and murder of 14-year old Sonam inside the Nighasan police station premises in Lakhimpur-Kheri district, about 170 km from Lucknow on June 10.
The Supreme Court on Monday said nobody except the accused, victims' representatives and their lawyers shall be present in the court conducting the trial in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence cases in which Union minister Ajay Kumar Mishra's son Ashish is among those facing prosecution.
"The state-wide bandh will commence from 12 midnight," NCP spokesman and state minister Nawab Malik said on Sunday.
In a video apparently of a speech made to his supporters, Mishra dismissed allegations levelled against him.
Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait exhorted farmers to be ready for a massive nationwide agitation over their demands as a 75-hour sit-in by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha in Lakhimpur Kheri seeking the removal of Union minister Ajay Kumar Mishra and a law on minimum support price (MSP) entered the second day on Tuesday.
Five persons, including four children, were drowned and eight others went missing after a boat capsized on Monday in the Sohali river in Lakhimpur Kheri district in Uttar Pradesh.
Frustrated by the delays and inadequate measures of wildlife officials, angry villagers managed to corner a man-eating leopard and burnt it alive in a village in Lakhimpur-Kheri district, about 200 km from Lucknow, on Thursday afternoon.
The Supreme Court on Monday suggested that a former high court judge monitor the ongoing probe by the Uttar Pradesh police into the October 3 Lakhimpur Kheri incident in which eight people, including four farmers, were killed in violence during a farmers' protest, saying the investigation was not going the way it expected.
Union minister of state for home Ajay Mishra's son Ashish Mishra, arrested for his alleged role in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence, was on Friday remanded in police custody for two days.
With two of the four farmers killed in Lakhimpur Kheri violence turning out to be from Bahraich, local residents on Monday both mourned their deaths and agitated against their killings amid an eerie silence enveloping their villages.
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday seeking immediate resumption of talks with the government over their six demands, including a law guaranteeing minimum support price (MSP) for all farmers.
District election officer Mahendra Bahadur Singh said Aman Giri won by a margin of 34,298 votes. He received 1,24,810 votes while Tiwari got 90,512 votes.
The top court also asked the Uttar Pradesh government, which opposed the bail plea of Ashish Mishra terming the offence as 'grave', to file an affidavit with regard to the status of the second case filed over the killing of three occupants of the SUV, which allegedly mowed down the farmers.
An application has been filed by advocates Shiv Kumar Tripathi and CS Panda in the suo motu case registered on a letter petition sought setting aside of the order dated February 10 of the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted eight-week interim bail to Union minister Ajay Kumar Mishra's son Ashish in the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence that had left eight people dead.
The BEST services resumed after the shutdown ended around 4 pm.
The Congress general secretary asked the prime minister, in Lucknow on Tuesday to inaugurate a programme of the 'Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav' celebrations, to visit Lakhimpur Kheri and give justice to the farmers.
"Would your Lordships give me time till Monday? I have almost got it done. We are working something out," senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for the UP government, told the bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana. "List on Monday," said the bench which, also comprised justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli, acceding to the request.
A statement issued on Monday by the umbrella body of farmers' unions protesting against the central farm laws, reiterated earlier 'ultimatum about October 11 being the deadline for the sacking and arrest of Ajay Mishra Teni'.
Largest in area among the 75 UP districts, Lakhimpur Kheri, known for sugarcane cultivation, with nine sugar mills in the district, is home to three or four lakh Sikhs.
The Lakhimpur violence, in which the son of senior BJP leader and Union minister of state Ajay Mishra Teni are accused of trampling four protesting farmers to death, has opened another front for the CM to deal with, after the mysterious death of Akhara Parishad president Mahant Narendra Giri last month and the death of a Kanpur-based trader in Gorakhpur recently.
Farmers from across the states arrived at Delhi's Jantar Mantar on Monday early morning protesting over unemployment.
Farmers from Uttar Pradesh and neighbouring states on Tuesday offered 'antim ardas' -- the final prayers in the Sikh tradition -- for the protesters killed in the recent violence in Lakhimpur Kheri, with their leaders vowing to intensify the agitation against the Centre's new agri laws.
Two men from her village have been arrested. National Security Act will be invoked against the accused.
OBC leader Dharam Singh Saini on Thursday became the third minister to resign from the Uttar Pradesh cabinet this week, giving yet another jolt to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the run-up to the assembly polls.
Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Thursday sent a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government and the state's police chief over the incident.
Angry protesters allegedly forced the two vehicles to stop and set them on fire.
The protests against farm laws saw a fair share of controversies as well with climate activist Greta Thunberg and pop sensation Rihanna making their way to India's prime time debates and terms such as 'toolkit' and 'andolanjeevi' entering the Indian political lexicon.
From the Republic Day violence to Lakhimpur Kheri incident and terms such as 'toolkit' and andolanjeevi entering the Indian political lexicon, it was controversies galore during the year-long farmers' movement against the contentious agri laws.
The death toll from the Uttarakhand glacier disaster rose to 31 with five more bodies being recovered, officials said on Tuesday as multiple agencies raced against time to reach about 30 workers trapped inside a tunnel in a power project site and 175 people remained missing.
Rebels in the Bahujan Samaj Party have attacked their party chief Mayawati for her "extortionist tendencies," with BSP's Rajya Sabha MP Jugal Kishore calling her "daulat ki beti".
The Uttar Pradesh government grappled on Monday with the aftermath of violence during a farmers protest in Lakhimpur Kheri, lodging a case against Union minister Ajay Mishra's son, promising a probe by a retired high court judge and stopping opposition leaders from reaching the trouble spot.
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.
Chaudhary, who took 13 hours to reach Lakhimpur Kheri from Delhi, several hours more than it would take to cover the 420 km-odd distance, also met the families of some of the farmer victims to learn their story of loss.
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