SC wonders why there are so few eyewitnesses in Kheri case

The Supreme Court on Tuesday wondered aloud why there were so few witnesses to the Lakhimpur Kheri incident in which Ashish Mishra, son of Union minister of state for home Ajay Mishra Teni, allegedly mowed down farmers protesting the farm laws, killing several of them.

The top court's response came after the UP government told the court that it had recorded the statements of 38 of the total 68 persons who claimed to be witnesses to the incident so far.

Their statements have been recorded before a judicial magistrate under Section 164 of the CrPC, the state said. The UP government has also arrested 10 accused, including Teni junior.


Senior advocate Harish Salve summarised the status report into the investigations so far claiming that "the fact that the incident happened was not an issue, the fact that the car was full of people was not an issue". He seemed to suggest that these were uncontested facts. "Everything is being investigated," he said.

The CJI though was sceptical and wondered aloud how there were only 68 witnesses to an incident which took place in presence of hundreds of people. Surely, accessibility and identification ought to be easy, the CJI observed. "Hundreds of farmers were present in the rally. But there are only 23 witnesses (apart from the seven whose statements were recorded on Monday)?" CJI NV Ramana wondered.