Lakhimpur Kheri case: SC to pronounce order on Wednesday on Ashish Mishra bail plea
Darpan News Desk IANS, 24 Jan, 2023 11:27 AM
New Delhi, Jan 24 (IANS) The Supreme Court would pronounce its order on Wednesday on the bail plea of Ashish Mishra, key accused in the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence case and son of Union Minister Ajay Kumar Mishra.
According to the cause list uploaded on the apex court website, a bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and J.K. Maheshwari will pronounce the order on January 25.
The apex court had reserved its order on Mishra's plea on January 19.
Additional Advocate General for Uttar Pradesh Garima Prashad opposed Mishra's bail plea. She had submitted that it was a grave and heinous crime and granting bail will send a wrong signal to society.
Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for those opposing the bail plea, said grant of bail will send a terrible message to society.
"It is a conspiracy and a well-planned murder. I will show it from the charge sheet. He is the son of a powerful man being represented by a powerful lawyer," he said.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Mishra, strongly opposed Dave's submission, saying: "What is this? Who is powerful? We are appearing every day. Can this be a condition to not grant bail?"
He submitted that his client has been in custody for more than a year and the way the trial is going, it will take seven to eight years to complete it.
He said that Jagjit Singh, who is the complainant in the case, is not an eyewitness and his complaint is just based on hearsay.
"Jagjit Singh is the complainant and he is not an eyewitness. I am surprised that when there are many people saying we ran over people mercilessly, an FIR is registered on the version of a person who is not an eyewitness?" Rohatgi said, adding that his client is not a criminal and there are no past records.
On October 3, 2021, eight people were killed in Lakhimpur Kheri district's Tikunia in a violence that erupted when farmers were protesting against UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya's visit to the area.
According to the Uttar Pradesh Police FIR, four farmers were mowed down by an SUV, in which Ashish Mishra was seated.
Following the incident, a driver and two BJP workers were allegedly lynched by angry farmers. A journalist also died in the violence.
On December 6 last year, a trial court had framed charges against Mishra and 12 others for the alleged offences of murder, criminal conspiracy and others in the case of death of the protesting farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri, paving the way for the start of the trial.
A total of 13 accused, including Mishra, have been charged under IPC sections 147 and 148 related to rioting, 149 (unlawful assembly), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 427 (mischief) and 120B (punishment for criminal conspiracy), and section 177 of the Motor Vehicle Act.
The other 12 accused are Ankit Das, Nandan Singh Bisht, Latif Kale, Satyam a.k.a Satya Prakash Tripathi, Shekhar Bharti, Sumit Jaiswal, Ashish Pandey, Lavkush Rana, Shishu Pal, Ullas Kumar Trivedi, Rinku Rana and Dharmendra Banjara.
In a statement, the Chief Minister said the government will approach the Supreme Court against the arbitrary and anti-democratic decision of the Governor to cancel the permission of holding a special session of the Vidhan Sabha after giving permission for it. He said it is an unfortunate move and they will move to the apex court against this irrational decision.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Japan on September 27 to attend the state funeral of assassinated former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday. He will also separately meet his counterpart, Fumio Kishida during the visit, it said.
The village leaders have asked the parents of Dalit boy Ramesh and Shobha not to enter village until they pay the fine amount. Miscreants are also making threatening calls to the boy's mother.
The accused Shahabaz alias Chhote and Uved (brother of Nadeem) were arrested by the local police on July 21, however, Nadeem went absconding. Nadeem alias Sher Khan, is a bad character of Jyoti Nagar police station.
Addressing the media here, the SAD President said it was extremely unfortunate that the SGPC, an inter-state body, had been bifurcated by recognising a state legislation even though the power to make law on this issue was reserved with the Centre.
Emphasising speedy purchase, the Chief Minister directed that purchase, lifting, and payment should commence from the first day of procurement itself and warned of strict action if any farmer is put to any inconvenience.
