The deaths came amid a year of farmers‘ demonstrations against agriculture laws they say would put their earnings at risk.
The son of a junior minister in the Indian Prime Minister’s government was arrested Saturday in the killing of four farmers last weekend. Officials and farm leaders said a car owned by Junior Home Minister Ajay Mishra, part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, last Sunday ran over protesting farmers — amid the yearlong demonstrations against agriculture laws that the government claims are necessary to modernize the industry — killing four in Lakhimpur Kheri in the state, Uttar Pradesh, The Associated Press reports. Mishra’s son, Ashish Mishra — reported in some outlets as Ashish Misra — has denied farm leaders’ allegations that he was in the car when the demonstrators were run over.
