The hearing in the Supreme Court on the bail plea of accused Ashish Mishra in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case has been completed. The Supreme Court has reserved its verdict on Thursday. Ashish Mishra is the son of Union Minister Ajay Kumar Mishra. A bench of Justice Suryakant and Justice JK Maheshwari said after hearing the arguments of Additional Advocate General of Uttar Pradesh Garima Prasad and senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Dushyant Dave that we will pronounce the verdict. Opposing the bail plea of Ashish Mishra, Prasad said that this crime is heinous and serious.
Additional Advocate General of Uttar Pradesh Garima Prasad told a bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice JK Maheshwari that the offense was serious. He said that this is a serious and heinous crime and it (granting bail) will send a wrong message to the society.
The court had asked her whether she was opposing the bail plea on any ground. The top court said that there are two facts regarding serious and heinous crime and it cannot comment on either of them. We are prima facie of the opinion that he was involved in the incident and he is an accused and not innocent, the bench asked.
Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for the people opposing the bail plea, said that granting bail would send a wrong message to the society. He said that it was a well-planned murder. I will prove through the charge sheet… He is the son of an influential person who is being represented by an influential lawyer.
Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared in the court on behalf of Mishra, opposed Dave’s report and said that what is this? Who is influential? We are coming here every day. Can this be a ground for denying bail?
Rohatgi said that his client has been in custody for over a year and the way the trial is going on, it will take seven to eight years to complete. He said that Jagjit Singh is the complainant in the case, there is no eye witness and his complaint is based only on hearsay.
The apex court, after hearing the arguments of all the parties, reserved its order on the bail plea of Ashish Mishra.
Significantly, on October 3, 2021, eight people were killed in the violence at Tikunia in Lakhimpur Kheri when farmers were protesting against the visit of the then Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Keshav Prasad Maurya in the area.
According to the Uttar Pradesh Police’s FIR, four farmers were run over by an SUV, in which Ashish Mishra was also a passenger. The driver of the SUV and two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers were allegedly beaten to death by angry farmers over the incident. A journalist was also killed in the violence.