Dispel impression that UP govt dragging its feet’: SC on Lakhimpur Kheri probe

“We think you are dragging your feel. So please dispel that impression”, Justice Hima Kohli told Senior Advocate Harish Salve who appeared for the state.

The remarks came as Salve was replying to a query from the three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India N V Ramana and also comprising Justice Surya Kant, about the recording or statements of witnesses under Section 164 CrPC.

The state government had filed a status report which said that of 44 witnesses, statements of 4 had been recorded before a judicial magistrate under Section 164 CrPC.

Referring to this, Justice Surya Kant asked Salve “your SIT (Special Investigation Team) can recognise who are the most vulnerable witnesses and can be browbeaten. So why only statement of four (witnesses) only have been recorded (under Section 164)? He pointed out that the statement under Section 164 had more evidentiary value.

The senior counsel replied that “I have been told that statements were being recorded and then courts closed” on account of Dussehra.

Justice Kohli expressed surprise over the statement and added “we think you are dragging your feet. So please dispel that impression”.

“Please ask them to take steps to record statement under Section 164”, added the CJI.

At the outset, Salve told the bench that he had filed a status report regarding the investigation in a sealed cover.

But the bench said the sealed cover was not required. “We never said anything about sealed covers”, said Justice Kant.

The CJI added that the judges had not got anything till Tuesday late night.

Salve referred to concerns expressed by the bench on the previous date of hearing regarding the non-arrest of the accused and said “a concern was stated that the state was going soft on accused. Now everybody is arrested and they are in jail”. He submitted that “there are two crimes – one where the they drove into farmers and second, where those who drove vehicle were lynched” and added that the second was more difficult to probe as there were many farmer protesters.

The CJI queried if that is the counter FIR.

Salve answered in the affirmative to which the CJI said it can be segregated and that the court was concerned with the first FIR.

The bench then sought to know how many accused are in police custody.

UP Additional Advocate General Garima Prashad replied that four of the accused are in police custody.

Justice Kant wanted to know what happened to the other accused. He queried if they were directly sent to judicial custody as the police did not seek their remand or whether they were sent to judicial custody on expiry of their police remand.

Prashad explained that police had taken three days custody and after that, they were sent to judicial custody as the necessary recoveries had been made from them.

She said that as many as 70 video clips had been recovered.

“So there was no need for more asking”, added Salve.

The CJI observed that the court was making the queries as it cannot be an unending story.

“This should not be unending story, that’s why we asked”, said the CJI.

Salve urged the bench to grant it one more week to complete the rest of the process.

“if you grant us one more week you will see where we are”, said Salve.

Adjourning the hearing, the court also asked salve to make arrangements for witness protection.

“We will ask them to put in proper witness protection”, responded Salve.

The court had taken cognisance of the matter based on letters written to it by two lawyers. Three BJP workers and a local journalist were also killed in the violence that followed the crash.