Kanpur Dehat Case: SIT Camps At Scene, AAP's Sanjay Singh To Meet Victim’s Family Today — Details

Kanpur Dehat Incident: AAP leader Sanjay Singh will be meeting the family of the victim on Friday while the SIT probing the case is camping at the scene.

Kanpur Dehat Case: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the death of mother and daughter during an anti-encroachment drive, is camped at the scene of the incident in Madauli village of Kanpur Dehat. Kanpur Divisional Commissioner Dr. Raj Shekhar is leading the SIT while the District Magistrate of Kanpur Dehat and Superintendent of Police Kanpur Dehat are also present at the site. A heavy police force and several administrative officers are also camped at the scene. 

The Divisional Commissioner along with other SIT officials from Lucknow met the family members of the victims. The officials recorded the statement of one victim, Shivam, through videography. The team is engaged in the investigation and is collecting evidence at the scene.  

Villagers around the incident site are also being inquired about the case.  

On the other hand, Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh said on Twitter that he is going to meet the victims of the Kanpur incident. Singh plans to counter the government on the issue of arresting the accused and giving justice to the victims. 

The police and administration team have been alerted of the AAP leader’s visit and efforts can be made to stop Sanjay Singh from meeting the victims. 

The development comes after it was reported that a mother-daughter duo was charred to death during an anti-encroachment drive in Kanpur Dehat on Monday. The incident created a massive uproar in the area with angry residents demanding action against the accused. 

Pramila Dixit (45) and Neha (20) were cremated at Bithoorghat in Kanpur Dehat district with policemen deployed along the road from the victims’ Madauli village, reported PTI. 

According to PTI, they died after allegedly setting themselves on fire in a hut in the presence of police, district administration and revenue officials who had come to the village to demolish encroachments from "gram samaj" land. 

Police on Tuesday booked 39 people, including a sub-divisional magistrate, four revenue officials and over a dozen of police personnel, on murder and other charges following the incident, reported PTI. 

Opposition Protests, Demands Action

Reacting to the case, opposition parties staged protests against the CM Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government. The UP Congress staged a massive demonstration in Lucknow on Wednesday as it took out a march towards the Governor House to submit a memorandum over the incident. 

According to PTI, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee questions why a central team was not sent to probe the death of a mother-daughter duo. 

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra slammed the state government over the incident and tweeted that the "spectacle of inhumanity on the bulldozer of the BJP government has become a threat to humanity and sensitivity".

BSP chief Mayawati said that the Kanpur Dehat incident is being talked about more than the state government's Global Investors Summit which was advertised so much. 

"In a big state like UP, which has been hit hard by poverty, unemployment, inflation and backwardness, the government's bulldozer policy is causing deaths of even the poor and the innocent. This is extremely unfortunate and condemnable," she said, as quoted by IANS.

State Congress president Brijlal Khabri, regional presidents Naseemuddin Siddiqui, Nakul Dubey and Anil Yadav led hundreds of Congress workers from the party office but were stopped midway. Angered by the state administration’s actions, the workers staged a dharna on the road. 

Congress alleged that the party was not given time to meet the Governor despite asking for the same a day in advance. The party said that after the request was declined, it decided to march towards the Governor House. 

The chief whip of the Samajwadi Party in the UP assembly, Manoj Pandey accused the UP government f hiding the truth in the matter and said that local leaders were stopped from meeting the family of the deceased. 

Pandey said that police are committing atrocities against common people every day and asked the government to give proper compensation and government jobs to the family of the deceased. He also asked to register an FIR against the District Magistrate of Kanpur. 

As per a PTI report, the Samajwadi Party said it would raise the issue in the Uttar Pradesh assembly. The Opposition party will raise the incident in the assembly’s Budget Session — scheduled to start on Monday — to get justice for the victims, its leaders said. 

UP CM Yogi Adityanath Orders SIT Probe, Relief Of Rs 10 Lakh

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday ordered a magisterial inquiry into the matter to probe the death of a woman and her daughter in Kanpur Dehat during an anti-encroachment drive, reported PTI.  

The CM ordered setting up a Special Investigation Team (SIT), led by Kanpur divisional commissioner and additional director general, Kanpur Zone, to probe the case, according to IANS.

The SIT will submit an interim report in a week, it added. The state government has also announced a relief of Rs 10 lakh to the victim's family.

"For the proper treatment of the injured sons, an assistance of Rs 5 lakh each (total Rs 10 lakh) has been provided to the family by the government," an official spokesman said, quoted IANS.

Letter Petition Filed In Allahabad HC

Meanwhile, a letter petition has been filed in the Allahabad High Court seeking a court-monitored CBI probe into the death of the woman and her daughter during an eviction drive in Kanpur Dehat on February 13, reported IANS. 

The petition is addressed to the chief justice of the Allahabad high court. IANS mentioned that the petition also seeks action against all the officers present on the spot and compensation to the family of the deceased. 

The letter petition has been filed by 'Swadesh and Prayag Legal Aid Clinic' through its president Ram Prakash Dwivedi. 

As per the report in IANS, the counsel for the petitioner Gaurav Dwivedi has asserted in the petition that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had issued a statement that no poor person would be targeted during anti-encroachment drives launched against the land mafia. 

In view of this, the petitioner has requested the high court to treat the letter petition as public interest litigation (PIL) and also take suo motu cognizance against the respondents for what the petitioner calls their "shameful and inhuman acts", which ultimately led to the death of a woman and her daughter, reported IANS.