AGENCIES / NEW DELHI
The Supreme Court on Monday cancelled bail granted to Ashish Mishra, son of Union Minister Ajay Mishra Teni, in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case and asked him to surrender within a week.
Ashish Mishra was released from jail in February following an order by the Allahabad High Court that granted him bail. Eight people including four farmers died in the violence in Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3, 2020.
A special bench of Chief Justice NV Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli held that the High Court took into account “irrelevant considerations” and gave “extra weightage” to the contents of the First Information Report (FIR).
The top court remanded the bail application for fresh adjudication on merits after taking note of relevant facts, and the fact that the victims were not granted a complete opportunity of being heard. “The denial of victims to be heard and the tearing hurry shown by the High Court merits the setting aside of bail order,” Justice Surya Kant, who read the operative portion of the judgement said, adding that “the order cannot be sustained and has to be set aside.”
The bench said that it was not necessary to observe that the bail application of the accused should not be heard by the same judge, saying this aspect was better left to the Chief Justice of the High Court. The top court on April 4 had reserved its order on a plea by farmers seeking cancellation of bail to Mishra. A single judge bench of the High Court, on February 10, had granted bail to Mishra who had spent four months in custody.
SC felt that the facts were not presented by the UP government, hence cancelled the bail plea. We’ve trust in judiciary and hope that in coming times farmers will get justice: BKU leader Rakesh Tikait on SC cancelling bail of Ashish Mishra in Lakhimpur Kheri violence case