Even as a SIT and magisterial probe has been ordered into the death of a woman and her daughter in Kanpur Dehat the Opposition was up in arms against the Uttar Pradesh government blaming it for the incident.
The mother-daughter duo allegedly died after they immolated themselves during an anti-encroachment drive in a village in the Kanpur Dehat district of Uttar Pradesh on Monday. The state government announced a cash compensation of Rs 10 lakh for the deaths.
While Samajwadi Party has demanded Rs 5 crore as compensation and government jobs for two youths of the victims’ family, Congress held a protest in front of the Raj Bhawan demanding a judicial probe into the incident and punishing the guilty officials.
BSP president Mayawati too slammed the BJP Government for the incident and asked the government to change its attitude toward the people.
Talking to a TV channel, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath described the incident in Kanpur Dehat as sad and unfortunate. He said the SIT team is probing the entire matter while a magisterial inquiry has also been ordered.
“The investigation report is awaited. After this, appropriate action and decision will be taken,” he said.
On the other hand, the victims were cremated by the family at Bithoor Ghat on Wednesday.
The state government has already suspended the SDM and Lekhpal after registering an FIR against 29 people in the incident that occurred at Madauli village under the Rura police station area on Monday.
For the treatment of the injured sons, an assistance of Rs 5 lakh each (total Rs 10 lakh) has been provided to the families by the government. Along with this, security has also been provided to both the sons by the government. Security arrangements have been made in the village.
Shivam Dixit, son of the victim, alleged that his mother and sister were burnt alive when SDM, Lekhpal and the police set fire to their house. “I tried to save them, but didn’t succeed,” he lamented.
Dixit had lodged a case too in which he has blamed SDM and others for setting his mother Pramila Dixit(47) and sister Neha Dixit(21), on fire. He also said the family’s 22 goats also died in the fire.
The case has been filed against SDM Gyaneshwar Prasad, Lekhpal Ashok Singh, SHO Rural police station Ashok Kumar Gautam, JCB driver Deepak along with local residents Ashok Dixit, Anil Dixit, Nirmal Dixit, Vishal and other unidentified persons and policemen
SP chief whip in the assembly Manoj Kumar Pandey, in a press conference, alleged that administration tried to hush-up the matter and party MLA Amitabh Bajpai was forcibly stopped from meeting the family members.
“People are being misbehaved continuously by the police in the state. Is there a provision in the law to hear the builder of a house on government land,” he questioned.
Pandey demanded Rs 5 crore compensation and government jobs for the two youths of the family. He also demanded that an FIR should also be made in the name of DM of Kanpur and Tehsildar of the area.
Congress was not behind in showing their resentment to the incident. They held vigorous demonstrations in front of Raj Bhavan and other parts of the state.
UP Congress president Brijlal Khabri, who briefly sat on dharna in front of the Raj Bhawan, was annoyed as Governor Anandiben Patel did not give time to the party delegation and state government did not allow them to go to the spot.
BSP supremo Mayawati too has besieged the government over the incident in Kanpur Dehat.
She said in a statement that in the state, which is suffering from poverty, unemployment and backwardness due to inflation, now the lives of innocent poor people are being lost due to bulldozer politics. She said the government should change its anti-people attitude.
Mayawati said that in the name of removal of encroachment in the Kanpur Dehat district, the mother daughter living in the hut died during the incident of excesses and arson.
Meanwhile, the Kanpur Dehat bulldozer action case reached Allahabad High Court as a petition was filed on Wednesday on behalf of Swadesh and Prayag Legal Aid Clinic. The petition demanded a CBI inquiry into the matter.
The petition also demanded proper compensation for the livelihood of the victim’s family.