NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court is likely to hear on October 26 a plea related to the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence case in which it had directed the Uttar Pradesh government to appoint a new public prosecutor to conduct trial.
The top court had on October 5 also asked the Allahabad High Court chief justice to act expeditiously on allegations against the presiding officer that he transferred several cases to himself and acquitted the accused.
On October 3, 2021, eight people, including four farmers, were killed in Tikunia in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri district during a protest by farmers against Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya's visit to the area.
Four farmers were mowed down by an SUV. A driver and two BJP workers were then allegedly lynched by angry farmers. A journalist also died in the violence.
The trial in the case is at its fag end as the trial court has so far examined 86 prosecution witnesses out of 130. Ashish Mishra, son of former union minister Ajay Mishra ‘Teni’, is the prime accused.
As per the apex court website, a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana would take up the plea of Ashish Mishra. He had moved the top court seeking bail in the case. Later, after getting bail, he sought relaxation in conditions.
Earlier, the top court had taken note of the submissions of lawyer Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the victims, that the conduct of the presiding officer of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence case was objectionable as he transferred several criminal cases to himself and acquitted the accused.
The bench had asked the Allahabad High Court chief justice to furnish the report in a sealed cover after looking into the matter and taking remedial action.
Later, the bench took note of the submissions of senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the high court registry, that an administrative committee had to be set up to look into the allegations against the judge.
"The chief justice of the high court should take an appropriate action as per para three of our order dated September 22, 2026," the bench said.
"The Registrar (Vigilance) of the high court shall forward a report to this Court in a sealed cover, indicating the action that may be taken by the Hon'ble Chief Justice of the High Court," the top court had said in its order.
Senior advocate Siddharth Dave, appearing for accused Ashish Mishra, had said that Bhushan had problems with everybody associated with the case, be it the trial judge, the public prosecutor or the accused.
The bench said it was not making observations on the allegations and their counter and listed the plea for hearing after two weeks.
On August 6, the top court refused to further relax the bail conditions of Mishra, the prime accused in the case.
In December 2023, the trial court framed charges against Mishra and 12 others, including those of murder, criminal conspiracy and other offences, paving the way for the commencement of the trial in the main case.
