Lakhimpur Kheri violence: SC allows accused Ashish Mishra to visit hometown on Diwali

The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed Ashish Mishra — the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence case accused and son of former Union Minister Ajay Mishra — to travel to his hometown on October 20 to celebrate Diwali with his family.

A Bench led by Justice Surya Kant, however, said the earlier condition that political workers or the public shall not be associated with such celebrations in any capacity will remain in force.

The order came after senior advocate Siddharth Dave sought on behalf of Ashish Mishra the court’s permission to travel to Lakhimpur for Diwali for two days till October 22.

The permission was needed as the top court had earlier directed the accused to stay out of Lakhimpur till the pendency of the trial.

On behalf of victims, advocate Prashant Bhushan urged the Bench to expedite the trial. However, the top court said it would result in monitoring of the trial.

Noting that 23 witnesses had been examined and nine dropped, the Bench directed the Uttar Pradesh Police to submit a report on the status of the trial.

On March 24, the top court had allowed Mishra to visit his family in Lakhimpur Kheri on Ram Navami festival.

Amid allegations of attempting to influence witnesses by Ashish Mishra, the Supreme Court had on January 20 asked the Uttar Pradesh police to furnish a report even as the accused denied the allegation as a ploy to get his bail cancelled.

Four farmers were mowed down by an SUV in Lakhimpur Kheri when those against farm laws were holding a demonstration against Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya’s visit on October 3, 2021. In the subsequent violence, two BJP workers, a driver and a journalist were killed. It was alleged that Ashish was driving one of the cars.

On January 25, 2023, the top court granted interim bail to Ashish Mishra and chose to convert it into regular bail on July 22, 2024, when it restricted his movement to Delhi or Lucknow. It had also directed the trial court to expedite the trial. On November 27, 2024, it had asked Ashish Mishra to respond to the allegations of witnesses being threatened.

A Lakhimpur Kheri court had on December 6, 2022, framed charges against Ashish Mishra and 12 others for murder, criminal conspiracy and certain other offences in the case. Virendra Shukla, the 14th accused was charged under Section 201 of IPC for causing disappearance of evidence.