On the morning of October 3, Sunday, 18-year-old Gurvinder Singh Dhillon set out from his village Moharniya in Matera thana, Bahraich to the neighbouring Lakhimpur Kheri district to meet a relative. A day later, on October 4, he returned home. 

Dead.

Gurvinder was one of the eight people who got killed in the violent clashes between BJP party supporters and agitating farmers at Tikunia village in Lakhimpur Kheri, 130 odd kilometres from the state capital Lucknow. 

Of the eight deceased, four are farmers, two BJP party members, one driver, and a journalist Raman Kashyap. All the other victims have been cremated. However, Gurvinder Singh is yet to be laid to rest as the family is demanding a second postmortem.

Also Read: Apart from farmers and BJP workers, a journalist, Raman Kashyap, too died in Lakhimpur Kheri violence

Matters flared up when Gurvinder’s body reached his village last night as family members alleged there were discrepancies in the postmortem report that was handed over to them. They claim it was tampered with in order to protect the accused who had killed Gurvinder.

There were allegations that the four deceased farmers were mowed down by the car carrying Ashish Mishra, the son of the 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.

Family demands a second postmortem

“Gurvinder left home on Sunday (October 3) saying he was going to visit a relative in Lakhimpur. He must have got caught in the crossfire of protest on the way,” Sukhdev Singh, Gurvinder’s tauji (father’s older brother), told Gaon Connection. 

“We can clearly see the bullet injuries in the body. Yet the postmortem report says the death was due to an accident,” Sukhdev Singh, pointed out. “We demand another postmortem. The authorities are saying they will go by what the bereaved family says, we will wait and see if the second postmortem report will mention the bullet wounds,” he added. 

Also Read: Lakhimpur Kheri violence leaves 8 dead; how clashes took a political turn

“There is no doubt that our nephew was shot at and injured by bullets,” Maskeen Singh, Gurvinder’s chachaji (father’s younger brother), told Gaon Connection. “However,  the postmortem report only refers to injuries on his stomach and other parts of his body. We are unhappy with the postmortem report,” he added. 

According to Sukhdev and Maskeen, 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. There are talks of a second postmortem being conducted by a team of doctors from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi,” Sukhdev said. 

Last evening, 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.

Also Read: Lakhimpur Kheri: Protesting farmers and the govt reach a settlement, confirms farmer leader Rakesh Tikait

Were bullets fired? 

According to Sukhdev, “Some of the other boys who accompanied Gurvinder were injured. But they are alive and they said that bullets were fired.” He said that the district president of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, Baraich, Om Prakash Varma,  was also injured.  

Sukhdev alleged that the Union minister’s son Ashish Mishra was protected and whisked away by the state authorities who were present there. “Either we are lying, the eye witnesses are lying or it is the administration that is lying,” Sukhdev said heatedly. 

However, the Union Minister has denied the presence of his son at the clash site.

“My son wasn’t present at the spot. There were miscreants who attacked workers with sticks and swords. If my son would’ve been there, he wouldn’t have come out alive. They’ve killed people and set cars on fire. We have video evidence,” he added.

Also Read: After 8 deaths in Lakhimpur Kheri, India’s farmer-govt standoff set to explode in election-bound Uttar Pradesh

Meanwhile, Tikait is on his way to the Nanpara tehsil in Bahraich where Gurvinder Singh’s village is. 

“We are awaiting the arrival of Rakesh Tikait. He had some demands that have to be met before the final rites will be done,” Akhil Kumar, Additional Director General (ADG) of Police, informed Gaon Connection. 

“The family members of Gurvinder Singh were unhappy that their demands were not being met. But we have assured them that we are with them through the entire process, and whatever is done will be conducted with transparency,” he said. 

The ADG also said that a team of doctors was coming in to Bahraich from Delhi to perform the second postmortem as the family had desired. “We will also ensure that  the guilty will be punished and justice served,” he said. 

Written by Pankaja Srinivasan. With inputs from Brijendra Dubey.