LUCKNOW: Ashish Mishra, the key accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, failed to get any relief from the Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court which was hearing his fresh bail petition after the Supreme Court had cancelled his bail setting aside the earlier order of the Allahabad High Court which had granted him bail in February this year.
While hearing the bail petition of Ashish Mishra afresh on Monday, Justice Krishna Pahal of the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court, gave no relief to the accused and ordered the state government to present its side on the petition by May 25.
Ashish Mishra, son of MoS Ajai Mishra Teni, is facing a case of murder which he is accused of committing during a farmers' protest that had turned violent in Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3, 2021. In the incident, Mishra had allegedly ploughed his SUV into the crowd of protesting farmers crushing four of them to death on the spot.
The High Court bench, comprising Justice Rajeev Singh, had granted bail to Ashish Mishra on February 10, 2022. Thereafter, the HC order granting bail to Mishra was challenged in the Supreme Court after an SLP was filed by the relatives of the deceased farmers.
On April 18, the apex court had set aside the Allahabad HC order granting bail to Mishra and asked the accused to surrender within a week. The SC had even admonished the High Court for granting the bail to Mishra taking into account irrelevant considerations and denying the right of hearing to the victim.
Ashish Mishra, in compliance with the Supreme Court order, had surrendered in Lakhimpur Kheri on April 24 and was sent to jail.
Earlier, in the Lucknow bench itself, Judge DK Singh rejected the bail applications of four other accused including Luv Kush, Ankit Das, Sumit Jaiswal and Shishupal on Monday.
On the other hand, in the district session and court of Lakhimpur Kheri, Vichitra Singh, one of the farmers implicated in the Tikunia violence case, has filed a discharge application. Apart from this, the remaining three accused have
also sought time to file the discharge application. The charges against the farmers who were made accused in this case were to be fixed on Monday.