SC relaxes bail condition for Ashish Mishra in Lakhimpur Kheri violence case
Mishra is accused of mowing down four farmers int Lakhimpur on October 3, 2021, while they were protesting against the now-scrapped farm laws.
The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed Lakhimpur Kheri violence case accused Ashish Mishra, son of former Union minister Ajay Mishra, to spend time with his family in Lakhimpur each Saturday (evening) till Sunday (daytime) and then return to Lucknow while on bail.
The court also issued directions to expedite the trial by allowing the public prosecutor to use his discretion to drop any unnecessary witness.
A bench headed by justice Surya Kant also imposed restrictions on his stay in Lakhimpur, while hearing an application moved by Mishra stating that he needs to spend time with the family due to his mother’s deteriorating health and his daughters in their crucial years of study. Mishra said he was unable to meet them due to the conditional bail order of January 25, 2023, prohibiting him from entering Lakhimpur Kheri, except for attending the trial.
Allowing the application, the bench, also comprising justice N Kotiswar Singh, said, “The order of January 25, 2023, is modified to the extent that the petitioner is permitted to visit Lakhimpur Kheri on every Saturday evening and spent time with family on Saturday evening and throughout the day on Sunday. He will return to Lucknow on Sunday evening.” The court chose the timing to ensure Mishra does not remain in Lakhimpur when the courts are functioning.
Mishra is accused of mowing down four farmers int Lakhimpur on October 3, 2021, while they were protesting against the now-scrapped farm laws. His father, a BJP leader, had lost the elections in the Lok Sabha polls last year.
Imposing additional restrictions, the court directed that during his stay in Lakhimpur, Mishra shall not participate in any “public meeting” or in any “political activity”. It said, “Such visit shall be private only to spend time with family members.”
Senior advocate Siddharth Dave, appearing for Mishra, suggested allowing him to spend the entire weekend at home, pointing out that he is hardly getting time to spend with his daughters. The bench replied, “Nowadays, even children don’t have time to spend with parents. Don’t disturb the education of your children.”
At the same time, the court was informed that the trial is at a crucial stage as 16 crucial witnesses, including 10 injured eyewitnesses, have been examined out of a list of 208 witnesses while several other important witnesses still remain to be examined.
The state, represented by senior additional advocate general (AAG) Garima Prashad, said that pursuant to court’s earlier order in March this year, the state had undertaken an exercise to consider pruning the long list of witnesses. She informed the court that over 75 eyewitnesses remain to be examined along with public servant witnesses and those linked with the investigation of the case.
“We are being very cautious. We do not want the prosecution to blame us later. The eyewitnesses have to be examined and also publis servants as they are important. Out of this list, if there are four in a family who are witnesses, one can be examined,” the bench told the state.
The court made this suggestion as there was no dispute about the fact that a protest of farmers was taking place.
However, the court entrusted this task to the public prosecutor and said, “The senior AAG points out that the public prosecutor will examine the list of witnesses to find out whether some of the witnesses, if found unnecessary, can be dropped. We leave it to the wisdom of public prosecutor to decide.”
The victims represented by advocate Prashant Bhushan said that the public prosecutor should be asked to identify who are the crucial witnesses. Dave objected to the victims getting a say in running the trial. The bench cut short the objection and said, “You cannot expect victims to be silent spectators in a trial. They can certainly point out which are the witnesses to be examined. But you have no role except to cross-examine them.”
The state pointed out that one of the victims who sought protection had not approached the state yet. Bhushan, who represented the victim, said that he was in extreme fear but would now be approaching the state. However, Mishra’s lawyer Dave cited the reason why the victim had not come forward claiming that he is a Samajwadi Party functionary. The bench said that it does not wish to get into politics as its sole interest is to ensure trial is expedited.
“Do not say he belongs to one party, and he belongs to another party. For this reason, we are also not monitoring the trial. Our basic purpose is to expedite the trial,” the bench observed, while posting the matter for hearing in July.
In March, the top court had passed directions to expedite trial and had permitted Mishra to remain for two days with his family on April 5 and 6, coinciding with the festival of Ram Navami. Dave had said that his good conduct should be grounds for the court to consider allowing him to remain in Lakhimpur as no other co-accused faces such a prohibition to remain out of the district.
Eight people were killed in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence and Mishra was arrested within six days of the incident. As per the police charge sheet, the killings were pre-planned as Mishra arrived in a Mahindra Thar SUV along with a convoy of 3-4 vehicles at the site where the farmers were protesting against the now repealed farm laws. One journalist was also killed under the wheels.
Infuriated by this act, the protesting farmers in retaliation pulled out three occupants from the car and killed them. A separate criminal case in this regard was registered by the police and is pending trial where the accused farmers are also out on bail. Prior to approaching the top court, Mishra was refused bail by the Allahabad high court in July 2022.
