Lakhimpur violence: Families of victims challenge bail to accused Ashish Mishra in SC

Family members of the victims of the Lakhimpur Kheri incident have moved Supreme Court challenging Allahabad HC order, which granted bail to the prime accused in the case, Ashish Mishra

Allahabad:Family members of the victims of the Lakhimpur Kheri incident have moved Supreme Court challenging Allahabad High Court order, which granted bail to the prime accused in the case, Ashish Mishra, who is the son of Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Mishra Teni. The petition was filed through advocate Prashant Bhushan.

In the Special Leave Petition, family members of the deceased have challenged the Allahabad High Court order dated February 10, 2022, wherein Ashish Mishra has granted regular bail.

The petitioner said that the Allahabad HC order is unsustainable in law. They also said that they have approached the Apex Court as the Uttar Pradesh state has failed to prefer any appeal against the impugned order.

"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," read the petition.

"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 the object of the first Proviso to Section 439 of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, which provides that in grave offenses notice of bail application should ordinarily be given to the Public Prosecutor," said the petitioner.

Even the victims were prevented from bringing the relevant material as regards the settled principles for grant of bail to notice of 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 to no avail and application filed by the victims/petitioners, the petition said.

They argue that considering Mishra's status, it is likely that he will tamper with the witness and evidence intending to either delay or distract the decision.

Last year in October, during a farmers' protest in Lakhimpur Kheri, a car convoy of Ashish Kumar had mowed down and killed 8 people. This led to a lot of chaos and the consequent arrest of Ashish Mishra as the prime accused in the matter. The HC on 10 February granted bail to Mishra on the ground that there was a possibility that the driver had sped up the vehicle in order to save himself as thousands of protestors had gathered the place.

(With agency inputs)