The Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday opposed before the Supreme Court a bail plea by Ashish Mishra, son of Union Minister Ajay Kumar Mishra in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case related to mowing down of farmers, saying his offence is grave and heinous and any relief to him would send a wrong signal to the society.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Dinesh Maheshwari reserved its judgement on the petition by Mishra.
During the two-hour long hearing, the court noted that the accused has been in custody for over one year. The bench also said if Mishra is denied bail, it would set a precedent for the High Court and trial courts not to grant bail to the poor people languishing in jails.
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The trial court had already said it would take five years to complete the proceedings in the case.
Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for the victims, said grant of bail will send a terrible message to society.
"It is a conspiracy and a well-planned murder. I will show it from the charge sheet. He is the son of a powerful man being represented by a powerful lawyer," he said.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the accused Ashish Mishra, strongly opposed Dave's submission and said, "What is this? Who is powerful? We are appearing every day. Can this be a condition to not grant bail?"
Rohatgi also pointed out that Jagjeet Singh, who is the complainant in the case, is not an eyewitness and his complaint is just based on hearsay.
UP government led by Additional Advocate General senior advocate Garima Prasad said the state was strongly contesting the bail plea.
On October 3, 2021, eight people were killed in Lakhimpur Kheri district's Tikunia in a violence that erupted when farmers were protesting against UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya's visit to the area.
According to the Uttar Pradesh Police FIR, four farmers were mowed down by an SUV, in which Ashish Mishra was seated.
Following the incident, a driver and two BJP workers were allegedly lynched by angry farmers. A journalist also died in the violence.
On December 6, 2022, a trial court had framed charges against Mishra and 12 others for the alleged offences of murder, criminal conspiracy and others in the case of death of the protesting farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri.