'Vehemently Opposed' Bail Plea of Minister's Son in Lakhimpur Kheri Case, UP Govt Tells SC

The Uttar Pradesh government had “vehemently opposed” the bail application by Union Minister Ajay Mishra Teni’s son Ashish Mishra, who is accused of running over farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri last year, the state has told the Supreme Court, denying allegations of not protecting a witness and going soft on the accused.

Filing its response in the top court on Tuesday to a plea challenging Ashish Mishra’s bail in the Lakhimpur Kheri case, the Uttar Pradesh government said the decision to file an appeal against the bail “is pending consideration before relevant authorities”.

Denying allegations that a witness was attacked over the Lakhimpur Kheri case, the Uttar Pradesh government has said they were attacked over a personal dispute involving throwing colours on Holi.

“Each witness has one armed police gunner. The families of the victims have one armed gunner each, along with permanent security guard and continuous monitoring through installed CCTV cameras, as well as barrier duty at their residence,” the government said, adding that in the most recent interaction, witnesses expressed satisfaction with security arrangements.

On March 16, the court had issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government and Ashish Mishra, seeking their responses to why his bail should not be cancelled. The court also expressed concern on the issue of a witness being attacked.

On Wednesday, Chief Justice NV Ramana, Justice Surya Kant and Justice Hima Kohli will hear the petition filed by the relatives of the victims, seeking cancellation of the bail granted to Ashish Mishra by the Allahabad High Court.

In the bail order, the High Court had observed that it is possible that the driver of the offending vehicle must have tried to speed up to protect him.

The Court, in its order, categorically observed that primarily, only two allegations had

been leveled against Mishra – firstly, of causing firearm injury to the deceased person and

secondly – of provoking his driver to crush the protesters.

Ashish Mishra is the prime accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri case at the height of farmers’ protest in which four farmers were run down by a car allegedly driven by him. A total of eight people died in the incident — three BJP workers and a journalist were also killed in the violence that followed the farmers’ deaths.

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