Lakhimpur Kheri Violence: Supreme Court Issues Notice To UP Govt On Ashish Mishra's Plea For Bail

The Supreme Court today sought a response from the Uttar Pradesh government on a plea by Ashish Mishra, son of Union Minister Ajay Mishra, seeking bail in a case related to the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.

Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi appeared for Ashish Mishra and submitted that the vehicle was driven by Mishra's driver. He also submitted that the second FIR against Mishra alleges that Mishra had fired shots from a sugarcane field but that the first informant subsequently said that he was not an eyewitness to the alleged incident.

The Bench of Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice MM Sundresh issued notice on the plea. The Bench issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government on the plea and posted it for hearing on September 26.

On October 3 last year, eight people were killed in Lakhimpur Kheri during violence that erupted when farmers were protesting against Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya's visit to the area.

Four farmers were mowed down by an SUV, in which Ashish Mishra was seated, according to the UP Police FIR. Following the incident, the driver and two BJP workers were allegedly lynched by farmers.

A journalist also died in the violence that triggered outrage among opposition parties and farmer groups agitating over the Centre's now-repealed agricultural reform laws

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court had on July 26 rejected the bail plea of Mishra. The Allahabad High Court had made remarks against media trial while rejecting the bail plea. "The media is supposed to provide news to the society, but sometimes we have seen that individual views are overshadowing the news thus putting an adverse effect on truth. Of late, media is seen overstepping upon the sanctity of judiciary in high profile criminal cases, as was evident in the cases of Jessica Lal, Idrani Mukherjee and Aarushi Talwar etc.", the Court had said.