New Delhi: The families of farmers killed in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri violence last year have approached the Supreme Court challenging the bail granted to Ashish Mishra, son of Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Mishra and the main accused in the case.
Ashish, who has been in custody for the past four months, was granted bail on 10 February by the Allahabad High Court.
The plea, filed through advocate Prashant Bhushan, stated that family members have been forced to approach the top court since the Uttar Pradesh government has failed to file an appeal against the Allahabad High Court’s bail order, Bar and Bench reported.
“High Court granted bail without considering the heinous nature of the crime, the character of the overwhelming evidence against the accused in the chargesheet, the position and status of the accused with reference to the victim and witnesses, the likelihood of the accused fleeing from justice and repeating the offence and the possibility of his tampering with the witnesses and obstructing the course of justice,” the plea said.
The plea also said that the high court did not consider the “overwhelming evidence” against Ashish while granting bail since the charge sheet against him was not brought on record.
Ashish is a key accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident that took place on 3 October last year in which a convoy of vehicles, including one owned by the Union minister, ran over a group of protesting farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri, killing four of them, a journalist and injuring several others.
Two lawyers — CS Panda and Shiv Kumar Tripathi — moved the Supreme Court Thursday challenging the Allahabad High Court order under the suo moto (court by its own), petition pending in the apex court over the incident.
According to the suo moto petition, the Supreme Court had constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to oversee the probe in November 2021.