Lakhimpur Kheri witness attacked, cancel Ashish Mishra's bail: Plea in Supreme Court

New Delhi, March 11

Alleging an attack on a witness in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, family members of farmers killed in the October 3, 2021, incident on Friday urged the Supreme Court (SC) to take up their petition against bail granted to Union Minister Ajay Mishra Teni’s son and prime accused Ashish Mishra.

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“Last night, there was an attack on one of the prime witnesses in the case,” advocate Prashant Bhushan told a Bench led by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana.

As Bhushan said the matter was to be heard today, the CJI said, “It’s an office mistake. It will be listed next Tuesday (March 15).”

The top court had on March 4 agreed to hear the plea against bail to Ashish on March 11 after Bhushan said other accused in the matter were also moving the High Court for bail seeking parity with the prime accused.

Family members of farmers killed in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence had on February 21 moved the Supreme Court challenging the February 10 order of the Allahabad High Court enlarging Ashish on bail. Family members of deceased farmers said they filed the petition against the High Court’s order “as the Uttar Pradesh, where the political party of the accused and his father is in power, has failed to file appeal against the impugned order”.

Four farmers were mowed down by an SUV in Lakhimpur Kheri October 3, 2021, when those against farm laws were holding a demonstration against Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya’s visit. Two BJP workers and a driver were beaten to death allegedly by angry protesters. A local journalist was also killed in the violence.

Earlier, advocates Shiv Kumar Tripathi and CS Panda had filed a plea in the top court on February 17 challenging the high court’s order.

The bail order has “manifest error” as the High Court has rested its reasoning on “presumption and guesswork” using the word “might” to arrive at a conclusion that the said crime culminated in a possibility of the driver trying to speed up the vehicle to save himself, they had submitted.

The latest petition by family members of the deceased farmers termed the bail as “an improper and arbitrary exercise of the discretion” by the HC. The top court had on November 17 last year appointed Punjab and Haryana High Court’s retired judge Rakesh Kumar Jain to monitor the probe into the case “to assure full and complete justice to the victims of crime”.

Deceased farmers’ kin seek urgent hearing

• Family members of farmers killed in Lakhimpur violence want bail to accused Ashish Mishra cancelled
• They seek urgent hearing in the case alleging a prime witness was attacked on Thursday
• An SC Bench, led by CJI, listed the matter on March 15