India: SAD delegation to visit Lakhimpur Kheri to meet families of farmers killed

 Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)

Chandigarh, Oct 7 (PTI) A five-member Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) delegation will on Thursday leave for Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh to meet the families of farmers killed in violence during a protest four days ago, party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal said.

He said the delegation would also meet representatives of the Uttar Pradesh government and urge them to arrest the perpetrators of the violence immediately.

"The SAD is very clear. All those responsible for this massacre should be put behind bars immediately, no matter how powerful they are," Badal said in a statement here.

The delegation will comprise former Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, MP Balwinder Singh Bhunder, former MP Prem Singh Chandumajra, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee chief Bibi Jagir Kaur and MLA Bikram Singh Majithia, the SAD chief said.

Four of the eight people who died in Sunday's violence in Lakhimpur Kheri were farmers, allegedly knocked down by vehicles driven by BJP workers travelling to welcome Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya to an event in the area.

The four others included two BJP workers, a driver of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Kumar Mishra, and Raman Kashyap, a journalist working for a private TV channel.

While the first three were allegedly lynched by agitating farmers, the scribe, according to his father, died after being hit by a vehicle when he was covering news of farmers' protest against Maurya's visit to Ajay Mishra's native place.