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.
The passenger reached at terminal number 3 on August 6. He was intercepted after he had crossed the Green Channel and was approaching towards the exit gate. On thorough checking of his baggage, nothing suspicious was found.
The operation was carried out in all seven border districts of Pathankot, Gurdaspur, Batala, Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Ferozepur and Fazilka. Major focus of this operation was to keep vigil on movement of drones carrying drugs and arms, ammunition, explosives and grenades in the border areas, an official statement said.
The passenger was intending to fly to Dubai by flight IX-141 from T3 on Thursday. Offloaded on the basis of suspicion, the man and his luggage was checked and the US currency recovered from plastic thread roll in his trolley bag.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday laid the foundation stone for the Sant Attar Singh State Institute of Medical Sciences at Mastuana Sahib in Sangrur district to come up over an area of 25 acres with an estimated cost of nearly Rs 345 crore.
The Customs officials at Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in Lucknow have found six gold bars in a dustbin near the immigration area at the airport. The confiscated gold bars are valued at Rs 36.60 lakh in the market.
Of the arrested trio, one was caught with 250 gms Mephedrone valued at Rs 37.50 lakh and the other with 2.70 kgs of Mephedrone worth Rs 4.14 crore in the market. After sustained interrogation, the woman accused revealed details on their two associates of whom one was picked up late on Tuesday (August 2) and the fifth was caught with the narcotics consignment on Wednesday (August 3).
