Rakesh Kumar Jain, a former Punjab and Haryana High Court judge, was appointed by the Supreme Court on Wednesday to oversee the probe into the Lakhimpur Kheri case. It also added three additional senior police officers to the Special Investigation Team (SIT). According to a bench led by Chief Justice of India N V Ramana, the Justice Jain Commission “would guarantee impartiality and independence of the probe.”
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So far, thirteen persons have been detained in connection with the case, including Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish Mishra. In May 1982, Justice Jain became a Punjab and Haryana Bar Council member and began practising law in Hisar’s district court. On December 5, 2007, he was appointed to the Punjab and Haryana High Court as a judge, and he resigned on September 30, 2020.
The Supreme Court had already voiced its displeasure with the “mixing up” of investigations in the cases relating to the October 3 event. “We are seeking to recruit a retired judge from a different High Court to supervise the inquiry on a day-to-day basis to guarantee that evidence…is documented independently and that there is no overlapping or intermixing of the shreds of evidence.” We have our doubts. The CJI had stated, “We do not want the judicial committee appointed by your state to remain.”
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We have our doubts. We do not want your state’s judicial commission to remain.” The UP government, represented by Advocate Harish Salve, agreed to the bench’s recommendation and declared that it might nominate a judge from any state. “The other worry is that you need to enhance the task force; they need to be higher officers,” Justice Surya Kant added.
