NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday told the Uttar Pradesh government to respond to the bail petition filed by Ashish Mishra, accused of mowing down four farmers at an agitation in Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh in October last year.“We will issue notice. Let the state government respond by the next date,” a bench of justices Indira Banerjee and MM Sundresh said, posting the case for hearing on September 26.
Ashish, the son of Union minister of state for home affairs Ajay Mishra Teni, approached the top court days after the Allahabad high court on July 26 declined to release him on bail.
Senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Ranjit Kumar appeared for Ashish Mishra and told the court that the high court failed to consider that it was not an incident where the car belonging to the applicant’s father mowed down farmers who were protesting, as projected by the prosecution.
“One version is that the vehicles came at breakneck speed in which three persons were killed. But there is also another version that there was a fracas as the car belonging to the accused hit some persons. Soon the crowd turned violent and the protesters pulled out the car driver and killed him,” Rohatgi said.In its July 26 order, the high court said, “Taking into consideration the complicity of the applicant, there is an apprehension of the witnesses being influenced, the severity of punishment as drawn from the nature and gravity of the accusations, without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, I do not find it a fit case for bail.”
Mishra was arrested on October 9, 2021, for the Lakhimpur Kheri violence that took place on October 3. In the charge sheet, the police said the killing was “pre-planned”.
According to police, Mishra arrived in a Thar SUV along with a convoy of three-four cars and mowed down protesting farmers who gathered to voice their opposition against the now-repealed farm laws during the visit of UP deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya. Four of the protesting farmers were killed, following which three occupants from the jeep were pulled out and thrashed resulting in their death.On April 18, the top court directed the Allahabad HC to decide afresh on Mishra’s bail after the bail granted to him in February was challenged by the victims’ family in the top court. The matter was returned to the high court with a direction to decide the matter within three months.
In November last, the Supreme Court constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to investigate the case and appointed justice (retired) Rakesh Jain, a retired judge of the Punjab & Haryana high court to monitor the probe.
