The Supreme Court has nodded to hear on 11th March 2022, a plea seeking the cancellation of Ashish Mishra’s bail in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case. The family members of the victims in the incident that took place on 3rd October 2021 in Lakhimpur Kheri had moved to the Supreme Court through infamous antivaccine propagandist advocate Prashant Bhushan against the Allahabad high court order of 10th February 2022 granting bail to accused Ashish Mishra, the son of the union minister of state for home affairs Ajay Mishra Teni. The petitioner had sought an urgent appeal before the chief justice of India NV Ramana, responding to which the CJI has said, “We can hear the case on March 11.”
Lakhimpur Kheri incident: SC to hear plea seeking Ashish Mishra’s bail cancellation on March 11
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In the petition, it was argued that the others accused in this case are now filing a bail plea on the ground of parity to the relief granted to Ashish Mishra. The petition says, “The lack of any discussion in the High Court’s order as regards the settled principles for grant of bail is on account of lack of any substantive submissions to this effect by the state as the accused wields substantial influence over the State government as his father is a Union Minister from the same political party that rules the state.”
It is further said in the petition, “The impugned order is unsustainable in eyes of law as there has been no meaningful and effective assistance by the state to the court in the matter contrary to the object of the first Proviso to Section 439 of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, which provides that in grave offenses notice of bail application should ordinarily be given to the Public Prosecutor.”
Blaming poor connectivity during the hearing on 18th January 2022, the petitioner has stated in the petition, “Even the victims were prevented from bringing the relevant material as regards the settled principles for grant of bail to notice of High Court as their counsel ‘got’ disconnected from the hearing on January 18, 2022, before he could barely make any submissions and repeated calls to the court staff to get reconnected were to no avail and application filed by the victims/petitioners.”
The high court had observed that there might be a possibility that the driver tried to speed up the vehicle to save himself, on account of which, the incident had taken place. Terming is perverse, the petitioner has claimed that there was nothing on record to show the same. It is further said in the petition, “Allahabad High Court has not considered the heinous nature of the crime; the character of the overwhelming evidence against the accused in the charge sheet; the position and status of the accused with reference to the victim and witnesses.”
On 3rd October 2021, eight people were killed in Lakhimpur Kheri during violence that erupted when farmers were protesting against Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya’s visit to the area. Four farmers were moved down by an SUV. A driver and two BJP workers were then lynched by angry farmers. A media person was also killed in this incident. Ashish Mishra was arrested on 9th October 2021. He was granted bail by the Allahabad high court on 10th February 2022. The other proceedings in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case are going on before the District Court in which Uttar Pradesh Police had filed a detailed report on 3rd January 2022.
