18-year-old Gurvinder Singh, the eighth victim of Lakhimpur Kheri violence, cremated
The kith and kin of the slain Gurvinder Singh, who was killed in the clashes at Lakhimpur, had refused to cremate him claiming his postmortem report was tampered with. Another autopsy was carried out and while the results were no different, the family decided to go ahead with the last rites.
The family members of Gurvinder cremated his body early this morning. Photo: By arrangement
It has been a traumatic and heartbreaking three days for the family of 18-year-old Gurvinder Singh, from Moharniya, in Matera thana, Bahraich district who was killed in Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3 during the violence that erupted there between farmers and supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
After waiting for four days, the family members of Gurvinder cremated his body early this morning (October 6). They had earlier refused to perform the last rites as they were dissatisfied with the autopsy report, which, they alleged, did not mention bullet injuries on his body.
“The bullet marks were clearly there, but the postmortem makes no note of it,” Sukhdev Singh, Gurvinder’s tauji (father’s older brother) had told Gaon Connection, yesterday, on October 5. The family therefore had refused to perform his last rites till another postmortem was carried out.
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The second postmortem was carried out last night by a team of doctors who came to Lakhimpur Kheri from Delhi, as desired by Gurvinder’s family.
“There was nothing conclusive that came out of the second postmortem and it still does not mention anything about bullet injuries,” Sukhdev Singh told Gaon Connection today. However, Gurvinder’s mortal remains were cremated at 6 am, the family told Gaon Connection.
Gurvinder was one of the four farmers killed at Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3. The others were two Bharatiya Janata Party workers and their driver, as well as a local reporter Raman Kashyap. While the cremation of the seven of those killed were performed yesterday, Gurvinder’s family had held out, demanding another postmortem.
Also Read: Lakhimpur Kheri violence leaves 8 dead; how clashes took a political turn
Rakesh Tikait, the national spokesperson of Bharatiya Kisan Union, had reached Gurvinder’s village last night to hold talks with the bereaved family and ensure the postmortem demand would be met.
Tikait is also expected to hold a press conference today (October 6) at 3 pm.
Gurvinder’s family had insisted that Gurvinder was shot by Ashish Mishra, the son of Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Kumar Mishra. This was vehemently denied by the minister and his son. But, an FIR has already been filed against Ashish Mishra and investigations are underway.
According to Sukhdev Singh and other kin of Gurvinder, the false postmortem was an effort to suppress the truth from coming out. “But we will do as our leader Tikait [Rakesh Tikait, national spokesperson of Bharatiya Kisan Union] tells us to,” Sukhdev Singh had said.
On October 4, the protesting farmers and the state government reached a settlement, which was coordinated by Tikait. The state government has assured the families of the deceased an ex-gratia payment of Rs 45 lakh (Rs 4.5 million) and a family member would get a government job. A judicial enquiry of the incident is also underway.
“We have not yet received the forty five lakh rupees as promised by the government, but they have assured us that we will have it by this evening,” Sukhdev Singh informed Gaon Connection.
He said the officials were, at the moment, at Gurvinder’s home discussing the ways and means of going ahead with the support the government had promised. “We are in no hurry for the money. The officials are making enquiries about which family member is best suited for a government job,” he added.
According to Sukhdev, one of Gurvinder’s brothers who had passed his class 12 exams may be offered a job.
With inputs from Brijendra Dubey.