Ashish Mishra, the son of Union Minister Ajay K Mishra, was freed from jail on Friday after the Supreme Court granted him bail in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, news agency ANI reported.
The violence in Lakhimpur, Uttar Pradesh, in 2021 sparked widespread concern, leading calls from the opposition for stern punishment against Ashish Mishra and the resignation of his father, the junior home minister.
A video uploaded on social media showed him leaving the jail on Friday evening while being pursued by reporters who were obviously attempting to elicit his reaction.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court granted Mishra an eight-week interim bail in connection with the October 3, 2021, violence in Lakhimpur that resulted in the deaths of four farmers and others when three cars crashed into a gathering of demonstrators.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and J K Maheshwari ordered Ashish to remain in either Uttar Pradesh or Delhi throughout his bail period.
On October 3, 2021, during demonstrations against Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya's visit to the region, four farmers and a local journalist were mowed down by the vehicles, and in retaliation, one of the drivers of the cars and two BJP members were killed. According to the claims, Mishra was in one of the cars.
The Uttar Pradesh government filed an appeal against his bail in the Supreme Court last week.
"It is a grave and heinous crime and will send a wrong signal to society," Additional advocate general for Uttar Pradesh Garima Prashad told a bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice J K Maheshwari was quoted by PTI in its report.
(With Inputs From Agencies)