Describing Ashish Mishra’s three-day police custody as a “red carpet remand”, Bharatiya Kisan Union national spokesperson Rakesh Tikait said on Monday that justice would not be served until his father Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Mishra was dismissed from the Union Cabinet and arrested.
“I am told that his lawyers have been allowed to be present during questioning. How can the police question the son of a sitting minister,” he asked.
Mr. Tikait claimed that the Minister was an accused under section 120b of IPC (criminal conspiracy). “When both father and son will be taken into remand like common people, they would tell who all were involved in the incident of October 3,” said Mr. Tikait.
The Union Minister has not been named in the FIR in the investigation into the incident on October 3 in Lakshimpur Kheri when vehicles from his convoy ran into a crowd of farmers leading to the death of eight men.
Ahead of the antim ardas (final funeral rituals) of the four farmers and a journalist killed in Lakhimpur, Mr. Tikait appealed to the public to light five lamps or candles in the memory of the deceased on Tuesday evening.
He said the Samyukt Kisan Morcha would declare its future strategy after the antim ardas. “The main demand is the dismissal and arrest of the Minister. The ashes of the deceased will the taken across the country and on October 26, we would hold a mahapanchayat in Lucknow,” he said.
He appealed to the administration to cooperate with those coming to participate in the ceremony. “Our volunteers will also be present to guide thousands of people who are expected to reach Lakhimpur on Tuesday.”
