Lakhimpur Kheri Violence: HC Sets July 13 as Date to Hear Bail Plea of Ashish Mishra

The Allahabad High Court will on Wednesday continue hearing bail plea of Ashish Mishra alias Monu, son of Union minister Ajay Mishra, allegedly involved in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence that left eight people dead. The victim side on Monday concluded its arguments after which the court fixed July 13 as the date for hearing the state government’s arguments.

Justice Krishna Pahal passed the order on the plea moved by Ashish Mishra. The victim side presented several pieces of evidence in order to establish that Ashish Mishra was present at the site and his involvement in the incident was clear. Four farmers, part of a protest against the now-repealed farm laws, were killed on October 3 last year when a car mowed them down near Tikonia village in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri.

It was alleged that Ashish Mishra was sitting in one of the cars in the convoy. In the subsequent violence, two BJP workers and a driver were killed. A journalist was the eighth victim. That day the farmers were protesting against the visit of Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya to Ajay Mishra’s native Banbir village. In April, the Supreme Court cancelled the bail granted to the minister’s son by the high court but directed that the HC could re-examine the matter.

Ashish Mishra then filed a fresh bail plea. The violence during the farmers’ year-long protest over the agri laws triggered outrage and the Opposition mounted a campaign seeking the removal of Ajay Mishra — a Minister of State in Home ministry – from the Union cabinet. Meanwhile, another bench comprising Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Saroj Yadav fixed July 20 as the next date of hearing for the state appeal challenging the acquittal of Ajay Mishra in a murder case. The minister’s counsel had sought time to argue the case. The state had moved the appeal against Ajay Mishra who had faced trial for murder of a youth, Prabhat Gupta, in Lakhimpur Kheri in 2000.

The trial court had acquitted him in 2004 and in the same year the state had challenged the acquittal.

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