Farmers Movement Archive

Lakhimpur Kheri violence: Farmer cremated after second autopsy

Gurvinder Singh, one of the four farmers killed in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence on October 3, was cremated on Wednesday morning after a second autopsy was conducted on him as demanded by his family, police said.Family members of the 22-year-old farmer, hailing from Moharnia village of Bahraich district, had earlier refused to cremate him, claiming that he was shot dead but the first autopsy had no mention of it. They had received support from farmer leader Rakesh Tikait.With the Uttar Pradesh government agreeing to their demand, a second post-mortem was conducted on Tuesday night by a team of experts from Lucknow, superintendent of police Sujata Singh said.Hours after this, Gurvinder Singh was cremated by his family members in his village in the presence of Tikait, ADG (Gorakhpur) Akhil Kumar and senior police and administration officials, additional superintendent of police (Rural) Ashok Kumar said. Farmer leader Tajinder Singh Virk was also present at the funeral.ASP Ashok Kumar said security personnel were deployed in the area as a precautionary measure. He added that the situation was under control.District magistrate Dinesh Chandra Singh said the family members of Gurvinder Singh had raised objections on the autopsy done earlier.“With the permission of the state government, it was done again and videographed as well,” he added.Sukhdev Singh, uncle of Gurvinder Singh, said, “Post-mortem was done in front of us and our leaders. At that time doctors told us that Gurvinder was not shot.”Two doctors designated by the family members of Gurvinder were also present during the post-mortem.“When in both post-mortems, doctors say that he was not shot, we had no option left but to cremate him,” Sukhdev Singh added.The mortal remains of the three other farmers were cremated at their native places on Tuesday.Eight people were killed in violence during a protest against the farm laws in Lakhimpur Kheri on Sunday (October 3). The UP Police have lodged a case against Union minister Ajay Mishra Teni’s son, Ashish Mishra.(WITH AGENCY INPUTS)

Hindustan Times

07-10-2021

Lucknow