Sikh Farmers MURDERED in Lakhimour Kheir,

[Premi5]

 

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/lakhimpur-kheri-supreme-court-to-continue-hearing-today-here-s-what-happened-in-last-proceeding-101635207156249.html

Lakhimpur Kheri: Supreme Court to continue hearing today. Here's what happened in last proceeding

Lakhimpur Kheri violence: The Supreme Court rapped the Uttar Pradesh police for “dragging its feet” in the investigation and noted that the special investigation team (SIT) probing the case needed to get more witnesses to record their statements.

The Supreme Court (File Photo / HT)

Published on Oct 26, 2021 06:29 AM IST

 

Written by Joydeep Bose | Edited by Meenakshi Ray, Hindustan Times, New Delhi

The Supreme Court will continue hearing the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case on Tuesday, a week after it rapped the Uttar Pradesh police for “dragging its feet” in the investigation. Noting that the special investigation team (SIT) probing the violence needed to get more witnesses to record their statements, the top court adjourned the proceedings last week to October 26. The bench asserted that the SIT must identify the vulnerable witnesses, provide them protection and record their statements under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), as it will have more evidentiary value.

Also Read | Lakhimpur Kheri case key accused Ashish Mishra tested for dengue, hospitalised

As many as eight people, including four farmers and a journalist, were killed on October 3 during a farmers' protest in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri district. An SUV, belonging to Union minister of state for home affairs Ajay Mishra's convoy, ran over them. Thirteen people, including Ashish Mishra, the prime suspect in the case and the Union minister’s son, have so far been arrested in connection with the incident.

In its hearing last week, the Supreme Court asked the Uttar Pradesh government why the statements of only four witnesses had been recorded till then. Senior advocate Harish Halve, appearing for the government, sought to dispel the query by saying the police have arrested a number of those accused in the incident and that the statements of other witnesses were being recorded when the courts had shut due to the Dussehra break.

The Supreme Court also asked the government why police custody of other accused was not sought, noting, “Until and unless they are interrogated by police, you won't find out.”

Also Read | What happened in Lakhimpur Kheri: Sequence of events according to both sides

Earlier, too, the top court expressed its dissatisfaction over the steps taken by the Uttar Pradesh government in the “brutal murder” of the eight men in Lakhimpur Kheri. On October 8, the top court said it was “not satisfied” with the action taken in the violence and also questioned the Uttar Pradesh government regarding the delay in arresting accused Ashish Mishra.

Ashish, who was taken into police remand, has in the meanwhile contracted dengue and was sent to the district jail on Saturday evening for treatment at its healthcare facility, according to police officials familiar with the development. On Friday, he was taken into two-day police custody along with three others for further interrogation in the case.

[Premi5]

https://theprint.in/theprint-essential/who-are-the-sikhs-of-lakhimpur-kheri-tracing-their-history-origin-livelihood/746050/

@shastarSingh- what is your opinion?

And, @S1ngh   or @Kau89r8- please can title of this thread be corrected for the spelling ?

 

Who are the Sikhs of Lakhimpur Kheri? Tracing their history, origin, livelihood

Sikh families in the Terai region in Uttar Pradesh, of which Lakhimpur Kheri is a part, migrated to the region post Partition. Most of them practice farming.

TENZIN ZOMPA 7 October, 2021 1:04 pm IST

The district of Lakhimpur Kheri is home to the largest Sikh population in Uttar Pradesh, most of whom belong to the farming community.

According to the 2011 Census, 6,43,500 Sikh population live in Uttar Pradesh and of them, 94,388 are settled in Lakhimpur Kheri. However, they are a minority in the district as they constitute just 2.63 per cent of the district’s population.

 

---

Sikhs in Uttar Pradesh

A sizable population of Sikhs moved to Uttar Pradesh and settled in various districts in the Terai belt after Partition.

Known as ‘mini Punjab’, the Terai belt, a marshy plain south of the Himalayas on the Nepal border, stretches from Saharanpur in the west to Kushinagar in the east and includes districts such as Nalital, Pilibhit, Rampur, Bijnor and Lakhimpur Kheri.

According to the 1963 Census, UP witnessed a 43.58 per cent rise in Sikh population from 1,97,612 in 1951 to 2,83,737 in 1961.

A report in the Economic and Political Weekly magazine noted that this migration was fuelled by the agricultural potential of the land, which had been lying barren prior to Independence.

The first settlement of Sikh farmers was set up in 1952, when refugees from Punjab were granted 12 acres of land per family. However, land was only given to those who already owned some acres in their native regions.

“Post India’s and Punjab’s Partition in 1947, compensatory land was given to those who had to forfeit their land in West Punjab, in parts of Punjab and UP. That is how a substantial number of Punjabi people — and Sikh community — the Jats among them (as primary landowners in colonial and post-colonial Punjab) came to own land”, Anshu Malhotra, Professor & Kapany Chair for Sikh & Punjab Studies, University of California Santa Barbara, told ThePrint.

Meanwhile, lower caste Sikhs like a section of Raisikhs joined the labour force since they did not receive land of their own. Some of the Raisikhs also bought land from local tribes like Tharus and Buxhas, the original inhabitants of Terai, along with the Mazhabis, another lower caste community of Sikhs.

In 2019-20, Lakhimpur Kheri was the highest contributor to the agricultural production in the state.

The Sikh farmers have played a huge role in making Lakhimpur Kheri district one of the highest contributors to the agricultural production of the state with a total contribution of Rs 12,414.40 crore to the state’s agriculture, fisheries and forestry sector in 2019-20.

Alleged militancy

While several Sikh families in the Terai region of Uttar Pradesh trace their origins to the Partition, the region has often been called the “base of operations” for Sikh “militants”, especially in the 1980s-90s.

In 1986, police raids were conducted on 6.5 lakh Sikh households, in a purported counter-terrorism measure. While nothing incriminating was found in the raids, the Sikh farmers in the region accused the UP government, then led by Congress’ Vir Bahadur Singh, of treating them as second-class citizens.

Several violent incidents have also been reported from the area since the 1990s, including the encounter in Pilibhit in 1991, where 10 Sikhs were killed by the UP Police in three separate ‘encounters’.

Initially, the 10 Sikhs were identified as militants but later it was found they were pilgrims returning from holy sites. In 2016, 47 police officers were sentenced to life for the killings.

In 2017, a joint operation by Punjab Police and UP’s Anti-Terrorism Squad, raised the alarm that militants of a banned Khalistani terror group, Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), were residing in districts dominated by Sikhs in Uttar Pradesh.

Two members of the group were later arrested from Lakhimpur Kheri.

---

Also read: Lakhimpur Kheri reporter was alive but police took him to morgue, not hospital, brother agonises

---

On farm laws

Sikh farmers in Uttar Pradesh have been part of the ongoing farmers’ protest, which started last year, against the three contentious farm laws.

The Sikh-dominated areas in Uttar Pradesh largely cultivate sugarcane, an important cash crop in the state, while rice and wheat are principal food grain crops. Others include pearl millet, maize, rapeseed and mustard.

In the past few years, an agrarian crisis has developed in the cultivation of sugarcane in Uttar Pradesh. The crisis revolves around three major issues — unchanged prices, delayed or staggered payments, and exponential growth in input costs.

Sugarcane farmers have also protested against this crisis earlier, particularly, the non-upgradation of sugarcane state advised price (SAP), which had remained unchanged since 2017-18.

The Yogi Adityanath government raised the price in 2021, from Rs 325 per quintal to Rs 350 per quintal. However, farmer leader, Rakesh Tikait, chief of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, called the move a big joke on farmers.

The Sikh population in Uttar Pradesh is considered an important vote bank in the Terai region, with its numbers significant enough to tilt the results in the region.

In 2018, Shiromani Akali Dal’s (SAD) Sukhbir Singh Badal also admitted their political significance and said, “Sikhs control more than 70,000 votes in the state (UP).”

---

Also read: Lakhimpur Kheri FIR says minister’s son sat on left side of SUV, opened fire on protesters

 Uttar Pradesh

A sizable population of Sikhs moved to Uttar Pradesh and settled in various districts in the Terai belt after Partition.

Known as ‘mini Punjab’, the Terai belt, a marshy plain south of the Himalayas on the Nepal border, stretches from Saharanpur in the west to Kushinagar in the east and includes districts such as Nalital, Pilibhit, Rampur, Bijnor and Lakhimpur Kheri.

According to the 1963 Census, UP witnessed a 43.58 per cent rise in Sikh population from 1,97,612 in 1951 to 2,83,737 in 1961.

A report in the Economic and Political Weekly magazine noted that this migration was fuelled by the agricultural potential of the land, which had been lying barren prior to Independence.

The first settlement of Sikh farmers was set up in 1952, when refugees from Punjab were granted 12 acres of land per family. However, land was only given to those who already owned some acres in their native regions.

“Post India’s and Punjab’s Partition in 1947, compensatory land was given to those who had to forfeit their land in West Punjab, in parts of Punjab and UP. That is how a substantial number of Punjabi people — and Sikh community — the Jats among them (as primary landowners in colonial and post-colonial Punjab) came to own land”, Anshu Malhotra, Professor & Kapany Chair for Sikh & Punjab Studies, University of California Santa Barbara, told ThePrint.

Meanwhile, lower caste Sikhs like a section of Raisikhs joined the labour force since they did not receive land of their own. Some of the Raisikhs also bought land from local tribes like Tharus and Buxhas, the original inhabitants of Terai, along with the Mazhabis, another lower caste community of Sikhs.

In 2019-20, Lakhimpur Kheri was the highest contributor to the agricultural production in the state.

The Sikh farmers have played a huge role in making Lakhimpur Kheri district one of the highest contributors to the agricultural production of the state with a total contribution of Rs 12,414.40 crore to the state’s agriculture, fisheries and forestry sector in 2019-20.

Alleged militancy

While several Sikh families in the Terai region of Uttar Pradesh trace their origins to the Partition, the region has often been called the “base of operations” for Sikh “militants”, especially in the 1980s-90s.

In 1986, police raids were conducted on 6.5 lakh Sikh households, in a purported counter-terrorism measure. While nothing incriminating was found in the raids, the Sikh farmers in the region accused the UP government, then led by Congress’ Vir Bahadur Singh, of treating them as second-class citizens.

Several violent incidents have also been reported from the area since the 1990s, including the encounter in Pilibhit in 1991, where 10 Sikhs were killed by the UP Police in three separate ‘encounters’.

Initially, the 10 Sikhs were identified as militants but later it was found they were pilgrims returning from holy sites. In 2016, 47 police officers were sentenced to life for the killings.

In 2017, a joint operation by Punjab Police and UP’s Anti-Terrorism Squad, raised the alarm that militants of a banned Khalistani terror group, Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), were residing in districts dominated by Sikhs in Uttar Pradesh.

Two members of the group were later arrested from Lakhimpur Kheri.

---

Also read: Lakhimpur Kheri reporter was alive but police took him to morgue, not hospital, brother agonises

---

On farm laws

Sikh farmers in Uttar Pradesh have been part of the ongoing farmers’ protest, which started last year, against the three contentious farm laws.

The Sikh-dominated areas in Uttar Pradesh largely cultivate sugarcane, an important cash crop in the state, while rice and wheat are principal food grain crops. Others include pearl millet, maize, rapeseed and mustard.

In the past few years, an agrarian crisis has developed in the cultivation of sugarcane in Uttar Pradesh. The crisis revolves around three major issues — unchanged prices, delayed or staggered payments, and exponential growth in input costs.

Sugarcane farmers have also protested against this crisis earlier, particularly, the non-upgradation of sugarcane state advised price (SAP), which had remained unchanged since 2017-18.

The Yogi Adityanath government raised the price in 2021, from Rs 325 per quintal to Rs 350 per quintal. However, farmer leader, Rakesh Tikait, chief of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, called the move a big joke on farmers.

The Sikh population in Uttar Pradesh is considered an important vote bank in the Terai region, with its numbers significant enough to tilt the results in the region.

In 2018, Shiromani Akali Dal’s (SAD) Sukhbir Singh Badal also admitted their political significance and said, “Sikhs control more than 70,000 votes in the state (UP).”

[Premi5]

 

Kheri farmers refuse to attend meet ..

 

Read more at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/87494751.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

Read more at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/87494751.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

[Premi5]

https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/forensic-report-confirms-rounds-fired-licensed-guns-ashish-misra-ankit-das-lakhimpur-kheri-violence-1874620-2021-11-09

 

Lakhimpur Kheri case: Forensic report says weapons of Ankit Das, Ashish Misra were fired during violence

Santosh Sharma

Lakhimpur Kheri (Uttar Pradesh)

November 9, 2021

UPDATED: November 9, 2021 12:32 IST

 

 

 

Forensic Science Laboratory report confirmed that rounds had been fired from the firearms licensed to Ashish Misra and Ankit Das. (File photo)

The Forensic Science Laboratory on Tuesday, November 9, confirmed that shots had been fired from the licensed guns of accused Ankit Das and Ashish Misra during the Lakhimpur Kheri violence on October 3.

The Lakhimpur police had seized weapons licensed to Ashish Misra and Ankit Misra. All the firearms were sent for forensic testing on October 15. Farmers had alleged that Ashish and Ankit had fired several rounds during the violence.

WATCH | Police send 4 weapons of accused Ankit Das and Ashish Misra to forensic lab

Eight people were killed in the October 3 violence, which took place during a protest over Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya visit to Lakhimpur Kheri. Four farmers and a journalist were knocked down by a car carrying BJP workers. Union Minister Ajay Misra's son Ashish Misra is among the 13 people arrested in connection with the death of the farmers.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Monday expressed unhappiness over the status report filed by the Uttar Pradesh government in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case and suggested that a former high court judge monitor the ongoing probe by the Uttar Pradesh police.

[Premi5]

 

 

[Premi5]

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/in-lakhimpur-violence-supreme-courts-instructions-for-new-sit-2614982

 

In Lakhimpur Violence, Supreme Court's Instructions For New Probe Team

"We are inclined to order that the ongoing investigation be monitored by a retired High Court Judge, who may not have his roots in the State of Uttar Pradesh," the judges said.

 

On October 3, four farmers were mowed down by an SUV in Lakhimpur Kheri.

 

 

 

New Delhi: 

The Supreme Court has directed the newly reconstituted Special Investigation Team or SIT looking into the deaths of four farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri to complete the investigation expeditiously. The Supreme Court today said it has added three IPS officers to the SIT who are not from Uttar Pradesh, though they are allocated to UP cadre. This was done after the team having most members from the local police, gave rise to concerns about partisanship.

The Supreme Court today also named a retired judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to monitor the probe.

During the last several hearings, the court had been pushing for judicial monitoring and it had even accused the state of trying to shield the accused.

The farmers were run over during a protest on October 3, allegedly by Union Minister Ajay Mishra's son Ashish Mishra. 

"We are inclined to order that the ongoing investigation be monitored by a retired High Court Judge, who may not have his roots in the State of Uttar Pradesh... We, therefore, appoint Justice (Retd.) Rakesh Kumar Jain, a former Judge of the Punjab & Haryana High Court, to monitor the ongoing investigation... which is to be conducted in a time-bound manner," the judges said. 

"While investigating such offences, justice must not only be done, but also be seen and perceived to be done," said a bench of Chief Justice NV Ramana, Justice Surya Kant and Justice Hima Kohli, which was hearing a petition seeking a court monitored probe into the Lakhimpur Kheri violence. 

The bench in its detailed order said that the present SIT predominantly comprises of middle-level or subordinate level police officers posted in district Lakhimpur Kheri.

[Premi5]

 

https://www.sikhpa.com/terror-attack-on-farmersprotest-pre-planned/

Terror attack on #FarmersProtest “pre-planned”

December 15, 2021/in News /

The Lakhimpur Kheri terror attack which saw four Sikh men killed by a BJP Party affiliate was a “pre-planned conspiracy” according to a Supreme Court appointed investigation team.

The attack in early October saw the son of an Indian MP used a jeep to mow down dozens of attendees of a #FarmersProtest in Lakhimpur Kheri (Uttar Pradesh, India), killing at least nine – including four Sikh men, three BJP workers, a reporting journalist and a driver – and leaving more injured. Read more on the incident here.

The investigation team probing the terror attack have released a statement which said “the criminal act was deliberately done with the intention of killing as per a pre-planned conspiracy”. The statement was released to Indian media and is seen as a reflection of the obviousness of what occurred, given Ashish Mishra was waiting in his car whilst the protesters gathered, before driving it through the crowds. The statement will be welcomed by those contesting reports which were contrary to the many eye-witnesses, by claiming the BJP convoy vehicles sped through as a result of crowds attacking them. Claims the BJP workers and a journalist were killed by the crowds were also countered by many eye-witnesses, he saw the workers die as a result of the jeep speeding through crowds. Witnesses also reported hearing gunfire and there are claims the journalist killed on the scene – Rasham Kashyap – was seen being shot by Ashish Mishra.

The terror attack was reported by some western media outlet as violent clashes, regurgitating the Indian state media narrative to whitewash the massacre of peaceful protesters. Since the attack, a typically delayed response from Indian authorities saw Ashish Mishra, the son of Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Mishra, arrested nearly a week after dozens of eye-witnesses saw him carry out the terror attack by driving a jeep through crowds of #FarmersProtest demonstration. Ashish has now been booked with charges of murder for which he will face trial. However, the Indian judicial system’s notorious delays are likely to be used to allow Ashish to be free for a prolonged period yet, as trial hearings are arranged and carried out. The same delays are weaponised against the likes of Jagtar Singh Johal, British Sikh detained in India for four years without trial.

Sikh Press Association Senior Press Officer Jasveer Singh spoke on the terror attack and the recent update, saying “The Lakhimpur Kheri terror attack is one of the most brazen killings of Sikhs and #FarmersProtest supporters seen in recent history. What happened is obvious and was seen by dozens, so it is only right any investigation reflects this. However, we hope western media outlets will also carry this part of the story, with many having covered it previously in an inaccurate way which only covered up for the state linked terror attack.”

Updates on the criminal investigation into the terror attacks continue.