Lakhimpur Violence: Victims' Families Challenge Union Minister's Son Ashish Mishra's Bail In SC

The families of victims have now moved to the top court challenging the Allahabad High court's order which granted bail to Ashish Mishra.

Ashish Mishra, prime accused in Lakhimpur violence is currently out on bail. (File Photo)

New Delhi: Days after Lakhimpur Kheri's prime accused Union Minister Ajay Misra's son Ashish Mishra walked out of jail, the families of the victims have challenged his bail in Supreme Court today. 

According to ANI, the families of farmers who lost their loved ones in the violent incident which took place in Lakhimpur Kheri last year have now moved to the top court challenging the Allahabad High court's order which had granted bail to Ashish Mishra.

Three family members of the farmers who were killed in the violence have sought a stay on the February 10 bail order of the Lucknow bench of the high court saying the verdict was “unsustainable in eyes of law as there has been no meaningful and effective assistance by the state to the court in the matter”.

“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.

“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 object of first Proviso to Section 439 of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, which provides that in grave offences notice of bail application should ordinarily be given to the Public Prosecutor,” said the plea which has been filed by Jagjeet Singh, Pawan Kashyap and Sukhwinder Singh through lawyer Prashant Bhushan, quoted a PTI reported. 

There has been an improper and arbitrary exercise contrary to settled law by the high court which has granted bail without at all considering the heinous nature of the crime, it said.

Seeking “stay of the impugned bail order”, the plea narrated the sequence of evidence and said, “The act of deliberately crushing the peacefully returning farmers by the Thar vehicle on the instructions of the accused from the back was not an act of negligence or carelessness but a pre-planned conspiracy as the accused thereafter from the farms circled back to the place of the ‘dangal’ event at around 4:00 pm and acted as if nothing had happened”.

The plea further said the high court did not consider the “overwhelming evidence” against the accused, position and status of the accused with reference to the victim and witnesses and the likelihood of him fleeing from justice and repeating the offence while granting the bail.

There was also the possibility of his tampering with the witnesses and obstructing the course of justice, it said.

“At least 27 witnesses have testified that they either saw the accused at the scene of the crime or saw him running away from the scene of the crime... At least 8 witnesses testified that they saw and heard the accused and his supporters asking the driver of the Thar vehicle to crush the protesters,” it said, mentioned the PTI report. 

Post-mortem reports reveal that injuries found on the bodies of the deceased are consistent with the main allegation against the accused, that is murdering the victims through his car in a pre-planned conspiracy, it said.

At least 37 witnesses have testified that they saw and heard firing of arms, it said, adding “FSL reports reveal that firearms were in fact used and that a 32 bore and 315 bore firearm belonging to the accused were used for firing, and unspent cartridges from the 315 bore firearm were recovered from the Thar Vehicle.” Even the victims were prevented from bringing the relevant material as regards the settled principles for grant of bail to the notice of the 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 of no avail, it alleged.

The Lakhimpur Kheri violence which took place on October 3 last year shocked the nation. Four farmers were crushed to death under the wheels of a convoy of cars, including the one belonging to Union minister Ajay Mishra. The incident also claimed the life of a journalist.

The convoy had run over a group of farmers demonstrating against the visit of deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya to Teni's native place for a programme.

Earlier in Allahabad High Court, Ashish Mishra's advocate Salil Kumar Srivastava said that the police could not prove in their report that Ashish was present in the vehicle that drove farmers to death and claimed that the police did not do a proper investigation.  He said that 192 affidavits were filed on behalf of the defence which stated that Ashish Mishra was not at the spot but the police did not include the affidavit in its investigation and chargesheet. 

Srivastava claimed that Ashish's driver Hariom Mishra was driving the Thar jeep from which the farmer was crushed to death, hence he is at fault. 

The counsel appearing on behalf of the Union minister's son had told the court that his client was innocent and there was no evidence against him that he incited the driver of a vehicle to crush the farmers.

Opposing the plea, Additional Advocate General V K Shahi had said that at the time of the incident, Ashish Mishra was in the car that mowed down the farmers.