It’s been more than 35 hours that two opposition leaders in Uttar Pradesh have been detained and not allowed to go to Lakhimpur Kheri where eight people were killed on October 3.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, general secretary of All India Congress Committee, and Sanjay Singh, national spokesperson for the Aam Aadmi Party were detained on October 4 and have still not been released.
In the wee hours of October 4, Sanjay Singh, who was on his way to Lakhimpur Kheri to meet the families of the deceased farmers, was detained in Bharat Palace of Biswan (Sitapur district), about 100 kilometres from Nighasan in Lakhimpur Kheri district, where the violence took place.
A couple of hours later, at about 5:30 in the morning, Priyanka Gandhi was also detained by the Uttar Pradesh police in PAC guest house in Sitapur district.
Today, October 5, in a video Priyanka Gandhi asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi why the person behind the killing of four farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri has not been arrested yet while she has been under detention for the past 28 hours without any order or FIR.
Two days back, on October 3, Uttar Pradesh’s Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Maurya was visiting the Union minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Kumar Mishra’s village in Tikunia, Lakhimpur Kheri, when the clash between local farmers and the supporters of the political leaders occurred leading to eight killings, including four farmers and two members of of the BJP, a driver and a journalist Raman Kashyap.
Following her detention, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra reportedly sat on a hunger strike yesterday. Congress party workers have been sitting outside the guest house, waiting for her release. Meanwhile, videos shared by the party workers show Gandhi is allegedly being kept under surveillance using drones.
Illegal detention?
According to lawyers and party workers, it isn’t legal to detain opposition leaders in captivity for more than 24 hours.
“The rule is that they [those detained] have to be produced before the magistrate within 24 hours of being detained. It should also be informed under what provision you have been arrested or detained,” Rajni Soren, lawyer practicing in Chhattisgarh High Court for the past 12 years, told Gaon Connection.
“Anyone arrested in India must be produced before a magistrate within 24 hours. There is no special significance to the status of a person who is currently not holding any high office. However, it is generally considered a bad thing in constitutional morality to arrest members of opposition/ political leaders,” a Mumbai-based law professor told Gaon Connection on the condition of anonymity.
“Now that 24 hours have passed, it is illegal to detain Priyanka Gandhi,” Noida-based Pankhudi Pathak, social media department, Congress, told Gaon Connection. “If the government wants further custody, it should bring her before the magistrate. But she has not been brought before the magistrate. No paper so far has been given to detain her,” she added.
Detention and habeas corpus
What is the difference between detention and arrest? “A person is arrested when he/she has committed an offence but if someone is being detained it means that you are a threat to public security and you need to be detained. In that case, the person is also taken before the magistrate,” informed Soren.
By virtue of the Habeas Corpus writ, the Court directs the person so detained to be brought before it to examine the legality of his/her detention. If the Court concludes that the detention was unlawful, then it directs the person to be released ‘immediately’.
Circumstances of unlawful detention include:
- The detention was not done in accordance with the procedure laid down. For instance, the person was not produced before a Magistrate within 24 hours of their arrest.
- The person was arrested when he did not violate any law.
- An arrest was made under a law that is unconstitutional.
Pathak, media coordinator of Congress party, also pointed out that “yesterday, when Salman Khurshid [former cabinet Minister of the Ministry of External Affairs] went to meet Priyanka ji, he was detained in Lucknow. No other lawyer is allowed to meet her”, she said. Kurshid is a senior advocate, also an Indian National Congress party worker.
Vadra is presently at PAC guest house along with Dipendra Hudda [MP from the Indian National Congress], Dhiraj Gurjar [AICC National Secretary], personal assistant Sandeep Singh, and Ajay Kumar Lallu [President of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee], the party spokesperson said.
AAP leaders trying to meet victims’ families
Meanwhile, National Spokesperson of Aam Aadmi Party Raghav Chadha along with five delegates from the party is expected to reach the clash site today (October 5). “Raghav Chadha ji and five other delegations are reaching Lakhimpur now. They left for the site this morning at around 10:30 am from Delhi. It is expected that they would also be stopped,” Vaibhav Prakash, state president, social media department, AAP, told Gaon Connection.
“Sanjay ji is also determined to reach Lakhimpur. He wants to meet the victims’ family. If they [the UP government] do not allow us to reach Lakhimpur, we will take some action. We won’t go back to our homes until they let us meet families,” he said.
Sanjay Singh has also today written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting him to meet families of the deceased in the Lakhimpur Kheri and demanding immediate dismissal of Union Minister Ajay Kumar Mishra.
Yesterday, Aam Aadmi Party state president and MP Bhagwant Mann demanded immediate dismissal of Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Mishra from the cabinet and arrest of his son Ashish Mishra allegedly involved in the killing of eight people.
It is to be noted that Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav was arrested yesterday (October 4) by the Uttar Pradesh police from outside his residence in state capital Lucknow where he staged a protest after being stopped from visiting Lakhimpur Kheri. However, he was released the same day at around 3:30 pm, a party spokesperson told Gaon Connection.
