Supreme Court Reserves Order In Appeal Against Bail Granted To Ashish Mishra In Lakhimpur Kheri Case

Sr. Adv. Dushyant Dave appearing for the petitioners, and family members of victims in the case submitted that the High Court made a grave mistake of considering the FIR when the Chargesheet had been filed. He had also submitted that the High Court emphasised bullet wounds and the use of firearms rather than the act of crushing the protestors under the vehicle.

Sr. Adv. Ranjit Kumar opposing the submissions stated that the FIR had also noted an incident of a person being killed due to a bullet being fired which made the High Court consider it. He had also submitted that there were crucial details missing from the translated documents that were submitted to the court. He also submitted that if an order of cancellation of bail is issued from the Supreme Court no other court would touch the matter with a bargepole.

Sr. Adv. Mahesh Jethmalani appearing for the State of Uttar Pradesh submitted before the court that, "It is a grave offence". He submitted that the accused is not at flight risk and the victims and witnesses are provided securities, so there is no possibility for evidence tampering.

The Supreme Court on the previous hearing had supplied a copy of the report that had been given by the Judge of the committee conducting the investigation into the incident. In the report, the judge had recommended the cancellation of the bail granted to the accused Ashish Mishra.

In October 2021 violence broke out in the Lakhimpur Kheri district where four farmers were mowed down by an SUV when farmers were protesting against the farm laws during Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya's visit to the area.

The prime accused in the incident, Ashish Mishra, was granted bail on 10th February by the Allahabad High Court. In November 2021, the Supreme Court had appointed a retired Punjab and Haryana High Court judge, Rakesh Kumar Jain to monitor the investigation in the case.