Ashish Mishra, son of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra, in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, and ordered him to surrender within a week.
Eight people were killed in Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3 last year during the violence that broke out when farmers were protesting against Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya's visit to the area. Four farmers were mowed down by an SUV in which Ashish was allegedly travelling.
Families of the killed farmers had challenged his bail. The case was considered by a special bench led by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana. The bench, also comprising Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli, which had reserved the verdict on April 4, held that the Allahabad High Court took into account “irrelevent considerations” and gave weightage to the contents of the FIR.
It remanded the bail application for fresh adjudication on merits after taking note of the fact that the victims were not granted a complete opportunity of being heard. “The denial of victims to be heard and the tearing hurry shown by the high court merits the setting aside of bail order,” Justice Surya Kant, who read the operative portion of the judgment said, adding that the order cannot be “sustained and has to be set aside”.
The bench said that it was not necessary to observe that the bail application of the accused should not be heard by the same judge, saying this aspect was better left to the chief justice of the high court.
