HC defers hearing appeal against Union minister Ajay Mishra's acquittal in murder case

The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday deferred till October 17 the hearing of an appeal filed by the Uttar Pradesh government in 2004 against Union minister Ajay Mishra's acquittal in an over 20-year-old murder case.

Lucknow:The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday deferred till October 17 the hearing of an appeal filed by the Uttar Pradesh government in 2004 against Union minister Ajay Mishra's acquittal in an over 20-year-old murder case. Justices Ramesh Sinha and Renu Agrawal of the Lucknow bench passed the order after Mishra's lawyer submitted that he has filed a plea in the Supreme Court seeking transfer of the hearing in the case to the principal bench of the Allahabad High Court.

The case pertains to the murder of Prabhat Gupta in Lakhimpur Kheri in 2000. In the course of the hearing on Tuesday, Ajay Mishra's lawyer apprised the bench that the minister had sought transfer of hearing in the case to the principal bench of the Allahabad High Court but the chief justice of the high court refused to accept the plea. The lawyer said Mishra then moved the Supreme Court where his petition is likely to be taken up within the next few days and hence, the hearing on the appeal should be postponed till then.

Jyotindra Mishra, the lawyer representing the victim, vehemently opposed this and pointed out that the present appeal against Ajay Mishra's acquittal was filed way back in 2004. He said an adjournment was sought on the same ground earlier as well. After hearing the lawyers, the bench said, "As the SLP has been filed in the Supreme Court and the diary number has been allotted, this court deems it appropriate to adjourn the matter awaiting the decision of the apex court."

The bench asked Teni's lawyer to apprise it about the outcome of the special leave petition on the next date of hearing. Ajay Mishra, Union Minister of State for Home, had faced trial for the murder of Prabhat Gupta and was acquitted in 2004, after which the state filed the appeal. Mishra's son Ashish Mishra is the prime accused in another case related to the violence in Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3 last year in which eight people, including four farmers, had died. (PTI)