The Uttar Pradesh government has opposed the bail plea moved by Ashish Mishra, the son of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra Teni, and an accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case in the Supreme Court. Opposing Ashish Mishra’s bail plea, Additional Advocate General for Uttar Pradesh Garima Prashad told a Supreme Court bench of Justices Surya Kant and J K Maheshwari that the crime was “grave and heinous” and would send a “wrong signal to society”.
The hearing in Supreme Court comes a year after the cancellation of bail granted to him by the Allahabad High Court in February last year. The apex court had then sent the matter back to the High Court, which heard the matter afresh and rejected bail in July last year. Following the HC’s decision, Mishra moved the top court for bail.
Ashish Mishra is accused in a case related to the death of eight persons, including four farmers, after being run over by a convoy of vehicles on October 3, 2021. One of the vehicles in the convoy belonged to Mos Home Ajay Mishra.
During the hearing, the top court bench noted that there are two versions of the crime and it was not going into either. “We are taking prima facie view that he is involved and he is an accused and not innocent. Is it the state’s case that he has attempted to destroy evidence?” the bench asked. The AAG, appearing for the UP government denied any such instance.
Opposing the bail plea, senior advocate Dushyant Dave termed the crime a conspiracy and “well-planned murder”.
“He is the son of a powerful man being represented by a powerful lawyer,” Dave said. Objecting to Dave’s submission, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Mishra, said that this could not be a ground for denying bail. Rohatgi submitted that his client has been in custody for more than a year and the way the trial is going, it will take seven to eight years to complete it. He stated that Jagjeet Singh, who is the complainant in the case, is not an eyewitness and his complaint is just based on hearsay.
“Jagjit Singh is the complainant and he is not an eyewitness. I am surprised that when there is a large number of people saying we ran over people mercilessly, an FIR is registered on the version of a person who is not an eyewitness?” he said.
“My client got bail in the first instance. This is not a cock and bull story and there is truth in my story,” Rohatgi said, adding that his client is not a criminal and there are no past records.
(With PTI inputs)