Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Nov 17: With the consent of the Uttar Pradesh government, the Supreme Court on Wednesday appointed Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain, a retired judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, to monitor the investigation into the Lakhimpur Kheri violence by the state-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT). The court also reconstituted the SIT by appointing three more senior police officers.
The judge would supervise the day-to-day probe by the SIT in the October 3 incident in which four farmers and a local journalist was mowed down by three speeding cars and two BJP workers and the driver of one of the cars killed by the mob in the subsequent violence. Thirteen people, including Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish Mishra, have been arrested so far in connection with the case.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice NV Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli also added three IPS officers in the SIT out of the list of the IPS officers provided by the state government for aiding in the probe.
The CJI said a detailed order would be passed shortly. The court said the Justice Jain Commission “will ensure impartiality and independence of the investigation.” The bench also said, “The investigation will be continued by the SIT,” adding the matter will be listed for hearing again after the charge-sheet is filed on the basis of status report. The top court said it would hear the case again after the SIT concluded its probe and files the status report and the charge sheet in the case.
The UP Government on November 15 had agreed to the apex court’s suggestion that a former judge of its choice may be appointed to supervise the state SIT’s probe.
Justice Jain enrolled as an advocate with the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana in May 1982 and started his legal practice at the district court of Hisar. He was elevated as a judge of the Punjab & Haryana High Court on December 5, 2007, and retired on September 30, 2020.
Earlier, the apex court had expressed dissatisfaction over the SIT’s investigation for what it said “mixing up” of witnesses and investigation in the two incidents of violence in Lakhimpur Kheri where the farmers had gathered for a demonstration on October 3 against the three contentious farm laws.
“What it appears to us is that this SIT somehow or the other is unable to maintain investigative distance between the cases,” said Justice Surya Kant. “To ensure that evidence…are recorded independently and there is no overlapping and there is no intermixing of the evidences, we are trying to appoint a retired judge from a different High Court to monitor the investigation on day-to-day basis…We are not confident…We don’t want judicial commission appointed by your state to continue…” the CJI had said.
Advocate Harish Salve, appearing for the UP government agreed to the bench’s suggestion and had said the apex court could appoint any judge from any state to supervise over the SIT investigation. The bench then had also disapproved the constitution of the SIT with junior officers. “The other concern is you have to upgrade the task force, they have to be higher officers. “Most officers are in the grade of Sub Inspectors from the Lakhimpur Kheri region,” Justice Surya Kant had said.
