New Delhi: The Uttar Pradesh government has denied permission to a 5-member delegation of the Congress led by Rahul Gandhi to meet families of victims killed in a violent incident on Sunday, sources said. The permission was denied in the wake of Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) that has been imposed in Lucknow.
In a letter written to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the Congress had said a five-member delegation led by Rahul Gandhi planned to visit the district. It also called out the detention of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra "without any reason or justification".
The District Magistrate of Lakhimpur Kheri has imposed section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), which prohibits assembly of five or more people at a time, following the Sunday incident. Soon after the violent incident at Lakhimpur Kheri, political leaders made a beeline to visit the site and expressed their desire to meet the families of the victims.
Earlier, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, who was scheduled to go to Lakhimpur Kheri, on Tuesday claimed that he was not being allowed to leave the Lucknow airport and he sat down on dharna at the airport.
Samyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of several farmer unions, alleged that Ashish Mishra Teni, son of Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Mishra Teni arrived with three vehicles around the time that farmers were dispersing from their protest at the helipad and mowed down farmers
Uttar Pradesh Police on Tuesday registered an FIR against Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Varda and 11 others for "disturbing the peace" in the state. But Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had claimed that she has been detained for the last 40 hours without any order or FIR. In a statement, she said she has not been produced in front of a magistrate or any other judicial officer and neither has she been allowed to meet her legal counsel, who has been standing at the gate of the compound since morning.
Samyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of several farmer unions, alleged that Ashish Mishra Teni, son of Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Mishra Teni arrived with three vehicles around the time that farmers were dispersing from their protest at the helipad and mowed down farmers and towards the end also attacked SKM leader Tajinder Singh Virk directly, by trying to run a vehicle over him.
However, Ashish Mishra refuted SKM's allegations and said he was not present at the spot where the incident took place.
As many as eight people died in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident on Sunday, said Uttar Pradesh police.
MoS Teni also said that his son was not present at the spot, adding that some miscreants mingled with protesting farmers and pelted the stones at the car which lead to the 'unfortunate incident'.
