Lakhimpur case: HC to hear bail plea of Ashish Mishra on May 30

Lucknow, May 25

The Allahabad High Court will hear on May 30 the bail plea of Union Minister Ajay Kumar Mishra’s son Ashish Mishra, arrested in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri violence that claimed eight lives in October last year.

On Wednesday, the counsels for the state and Ashish Mishra filed counter-affidavits in the matter.

Thereafter, Justice Krishan Pahal of the Lucknow bench of the high court granted two days to Ashish Mishra’s counsel to file a rejoinder affidavit and fixed the next date of hearing on May 30.

Four farmers and a journalist were mowed down by vehicles allegedly carrying BJP workers in Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3 last year during a protest over then Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya’s visit to the area.

In the violence that followed, three people, including two BJP workers, were lynched by an angry crowd.

In an earlier hearing on May 9, the high court had said political people holding high positions shouldn’t make “irresponsible statements” and need to conduct themselves in a manner befitting their status and the dignity of their office.

On April 18, the Supreme Court cancelled the bail granted to Ashish Mishra and asked him to surrender in a week, saying the victims were denied a fair and effective hearing in the Allahabad High Court, which adopted a “myopic view of the evidence”.

The apex court had held that the high court took into account irrelevant considerations and gave extra weightage to the contents of the FIR.

The high court had on February 10 granted bail to Ashish Mishra who had spent four months in custody.