In the bail petition filed by Ashish Mishra, the son of Union minister Ajay Kumar, in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, the Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh Government.
Justices Indira Banerjee and MM Sundresh were sitting on the panel that was debating Mishra’s appeal of the Allahabad High Court’s ruling on July 26 that denied his routine bail application.
The Uttar Pradesh administration has been asked until September 26 to provide a response.
“Four farmers died in the Lakhimpur case, and the accused and the accused’s car were present there. This is the biggest fact. This case comes under the category of a heinous crime,” the high court had said.
For the incident on October 3, 2021, which resulted in the deaths of eight individuals in Lakhimpur Kheri, including four farmers, Mishra is accused of murder.
Mishra is accused of running his car over farmers who were opposing the three agriculture rules being implemented by the Center.
After being detained on October 9, he received bail in February 2022.
Mishra, again moved to the high court as the court’s earlier order was set aside by the Supreme Court in April 2022 and had ordered fresh consideration of his bail plea.
The top court earlier had set aside the Allahabad high court order dated February 10, 2022, and referred the matter back to the high court.
Mishra reapplied to the high court since the Supreme Court had ordered a fresh review of his bail request in April 2022 and had overturned the lower court’s earlier decision.
The Allahabad High Court’s ruling from February 10, 2022 was earlier overturned by the Supreme Court, which then sent the case back to the High Court.
The top court had said the order of the high court cannot be sustained and has to be set aside and the bail bonds of the respondent/accused are cancelled. The court had directed Mishra to surrender within a week.
Family members of the Lakhimpur Kheri violence victims petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn the high court’s decision to grant bail to Mishra.
A committee led by retired judge from the high courts of Punjab and Haryana, Rakesh Kumar Jain, was earlier constituted by the apex court to oversee the investigation into the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.