The Supreme Court ordered the Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday to protect witnesses and gather more information in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, in which a jeep allegedly driven by the son of a BJP leader ran over four farmers on October 3.
In all 8 people were killed including a journalist. The Court was taken aback by the Uttar Pradesh government's claim that only 23 witnesses had been identified up to this point.
The counsel representing Uttar Pradesh Senior Advocate Harish Salve asked the Supreme Court for permission to produce the statement recorded before the magistrate in a sealed cover, and the bench granted the request. The case has been rescheduled for a hearing on November 8.
"A concern was expressed that the state was going soft on the accused; now everyone has been arrested and is in jail," Salve added. As of today, there are ten accused in custody.
There were two crimes, one of which involved driving into farmers and the other in which a person was lynched."
During the previous hearing, the Court noted that only four of the 44 witnesses' statements had been recorded thus far.
"The case's evidence must be protected by the highest-ranking police officer." Why wasn't the accused arrested right away? Why aren't they treated the same as any other citizen? In the previous order, the CJI stated, "The local police have not done their job properly."
On October 26, 2021, The Court of Justice directed Uttar Pradesh government to provide security to the witnesses, and gather more information about the incident.