Lakhimpur Kheri violence case: Petitioners allege attack on key witness

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 21

Alleging an attack on a witness in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, the family members of farmers killed in the October 3, 2021, incident on Friday urged the Supreme Court to take up their petition against bail granted to Union Minister Ajay Mishra Teni’s son and prime accused Ashish Mishra.

“Last night there was an attack on one of the prime witnesses of the case,” advocate Prashant Bhushan told a Bench led by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana.

As Bhushan said the matter was to be heard today, the CJI said, “It’s an office mistake. It will be listed next Tuesday.”

The top court had on March 4 agreed to hear the plea against bail to Ashish Mishra on March 11 after Bhushan said other accused in the matter were also moving the high court for bail seeking parity with the prime accused.

Family members of farmers killed in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence had on February 21 moved the Supreme Court challenging the February 10 order of the Allahabad High Court enlarging Ashish Mishra on bail.

The family members of the murdered farmers said they filed the petition against the high court’s order “as the State of Uttar Pradesh where the political party of the accused and his father is in power has failed to file appeal against the impugned order”.

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. Two BJP workers and a driver were beaten to death allegedly by angry protesters. A local journalist was also killed in the violence.

Earlier, advocates Shiv Kumar Tripathi and CS Panda had filed a plea in the top court on February 17 challenging the high court’s order.

The bail order has “manifest error” as the high court has rested its reasoning on “presumption and guesswork” using the word “might” to arrive at a conclusion that the said crime culminated in a possibility of the driver trying to speed up the vehicle to save himself, they had submitted.

The latest petition by family members of the deceased farmers termed the bail as “an improper and arbitrary exercise of the discretion” by the high court.

The top court had on November 17 last year appointed Punjab and Haryana High Court’s retired judge Rakesh Kumar Jain to monitor the probe into the case “to assure full and complete justice to the victims of crime” and “to ensure transparency, fairness and absolute impartiality in the outcome of the investigation…which is to be conducted in a time-bound manner.”

It had reconstituted the UP Government-appointed SIT by adding three senior IPS officers SB Shiradkar, Padmaja Chauhan and Preetinder Singh.

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