LUCKNOW: In a major decision, the Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court rejected the bail plea of Ashish Mishra alias Monu, key accused of Lakhimpur Kheri violence and son of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra ‘Teni’ here on Tuesday.
Dismissing the bail plea, the single bench of Justice Krishna Pahal said that as per the evidence present in record, the accused could not be granted bail as he was politically so influential that he would influence witnesses and affect the trial if granted bail.
Earlier, the Bench had reserved its order on Ashish Mishra's bail plea on July 15. Notably, on October 3 last year, eight people were killed under Tikunia police station area in Lakhimpur Kheri during violence that erupted when farmers different parts of the state and the country farmers had gathered to protest against the now scrapped farm laws. The farmers were basically protesting against the visit of UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya who was in Lakhimpur Kheri to attend an event organised by MoS Ajay Mishra Teni.
During the protests, a four-wheeler belonging to Ashish Mishra had allegedly mowed down four of the protesting farmers killing them on the spot. Consequently, the angry mob of farmers lynched three BJP workers including the driver of the vehicle that had run over the protesting farmers. In the melee, a local journalist was also killed.
Ashish Mishra was arrested in connection with the violence on October 9, 2021 and was sent to three-day police custody after a rigorous grilling of 12 hours by Special investigation team (SIT) set up by the UP government.
On November 15, the Supreme Court stated that it wanted the SIT probe to be supervised by a retired High Court judge from a different State. The single judge bench of Justice Rajeev Singh of Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court had granted bail to Ashish on February 10, 2022 and he came out of jail on February 15.
After the Allahabad High Court granted bail to Mishra, the family members of the deceased approached the Supreme Court seeking cancellation of the bail since the State of Uttar Pradesh did not file an appeal against the bail order.
They also contended that they were not heard by the High Court before grant of bail. As a result, the Supreme Court, cancelled the bail granted by the High Court and remanded the matter back to the High Court for fresh consideration in April, this year.
The Apex Court also directed the High Court to decide Ashish Mishra’s bail plea after allowing adequate opportunity to the victims to present their side before the court. Thereafter, Ashish moved a fresh bail plea before the High Court.
On May 9, the court rejected the bail pleas of co-accused Lavkush, Ankit Das, Sumit Jaiswal and Shishupal observing that the four accused were actively involved in planning and participation of the heinous offence committed in a "cruel and inhuman manner" and as such did not deserve bail.
The bench had further observed that the four accused and the main accused Ashish Mishra alias Monu belonged to very influential political families and prosecution’s apprehension that they would interfere with the course of justice, tamper with the evidence and influence the witnesses, could not be ruled.