Lakhimpur Kheri case: UP govt opposes Union minister's son's bail in SC
Darpan News Desk IANS, 19 Jan, 2023 11:32 AM
Lucknow, Jan 19 (IANS) In a surprise move, the Uttar Pradesh government, on Thursday, opposed the bail plea of Union Minister Ajay Kumar Mishra's son, who is one of the accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, in the Supreme Court.
Additional Advocate General for Uttar Pradesh Garima Prasad told a bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice J.K. Maheshwari that the crime is "grave".
"It is a grave and heinous crime and (granting bail) will send a wrong signal to society," she said when asked for reasons to oppose the bail plea.
"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 court said about the grave and heinous crime there are two versions and it cannot comment on any of the versions.
The additional advocate general replied, "That has not happened till now."
Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for those opposing the bail plea, said grant of bail will send a terrible message to society.
"It is a conspiracy and a well-planned murder. I will show it from the charge sheet. He is the son of a powerful man being represented by a powerful lawyer," he said.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the accused Ashish Mishra, strongly opposed Dave's submission and said, "What is this? Who is powerful? We are appearing every day. Can this be a condition to not grant 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 pointed out 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 are many people saying we ran over people mercilessly, an FIR is registered on the version of a person who is not an eyewitness?" Rohatgi said, adding that his client is not a criminal and there are no past records.
It may be recalled that on October 3, 2021, eight people were killed in Lakhimpur Kheri district's Tikunia in a violence that erupted when farmers were protesting against UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya's visit to the area.
According to the Uttar Pradesh Police FIR, four farmers were mowed down by an SUV, in which Ashish Mishra was seated.
Following the incident, a driver and two BJP workers were allegedly lynched by angry farmers. A journalist also died in the violence.
On December 6 last year, a trial court had framed charges against Ashish Mishra and 12 others for the alleged offences of murder, criminal conspiracy and others in the case of death of the protesting farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri, paving the way for the start of the trial.
A total of 13 accused, including Ashish Mishra, have been charged under IPC sections 147 and 148 related to rioting, 149 (unlawful assembly), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 427 (mischief) and 120B (punishment for criminal conspiracy), and section 177 of the Motor Vehicle Act.
The other 12 accused are Ankit Das, Nandan Singh Bisht, Latif Kale, Satyam a.k.a Satya Prakash Tripathi, Shekhar Bharti, Sumit Jaiswal, Ashish Pandey, Lavkush Rana, Shishu Pal, Ullas Kumar Trivedi, Rinku Rana and Dharmendra Banjara.
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Furnishing details, Additional DCP-I (Dwaka), Vikram Singh, said that a call about the robbery incident was received at 6 a.m. Tuesday, in which the caller claimed that four women had robbed him of Rs 2,000 near the Ganda Nala area.
"The office of the Commissioner for NRI Affairs Goa is already in touch with the Consulate General of India, Houston, USA for seeking their assistance for bringing the mortal remains of late John Dias to Goa, so that his family can have the funeral in Goa," he added.
He asked farmers to "fight" to cancel the bail given to Union Minister Ajay Mishra Teni's son, Ashish Mishra, who was accused of mowing down four farmers and a journalist with his convoy during the violence.
Of the 15 most polluted cities in Central and South Asia in 2021, 12 were in India. New Delhi saw a 14.6 per cent increase in PM2.5 concentration in 2021, 96.4 Ig/m3, up from 84 Ig/m3 in 2020.
According to officials, the gang has been operating for the past several years and has duped nearly 700 girls across the country, including in Madhya Pradesh and New Delhi.
