[Lakhimpur Kheri] Supreme Court issues notice in plea challenging bail granted to Ashish Mishra

The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notice in a plea moved by family members of the deceased in the Lakhimpur Kheri killings, seeking cancellation of bail granted to prime accused Ashish Mishra..While taking note of the allegation that a witness in the case was attacked, a Bench of Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli directed the State of Uttar Pradesh to file a response and ensure that witnesses were protected. "We will issue notice. There is an allegation that a witness has been attacked. You have to file a detailed counter affidavit. You have to see that witnesses are protected," the Chief Justice said. .Appearing for the petitioners, Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave submitted that the High Court order was misdirected on the principles of grant of bail, especially considering the trial court refused bail. "It has to be seen what was the influence when there was enough material on record to pin him down in the chargesheet.".The Bench was hearing a petition filed by family members of deceased farmers who were mowed down by a car belonging to Union Minister Ajay Mishra Teni's son, Ashish Mishra, at Lakhimpur Kheri..On October 3 last year, eight people were killed in Lakhimpur Kheri during violence that erupted when farmers were protesting against the now revoked farm laws. The protesters had impeded the visit of Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, who was planning to attend an event in the area. A four-wheeler belonging to Mishra then allegedly mowed down and killed eight persons, including the protesting farmers.After Mishra's arrest, the Uttar Pradesh Police's special investigation team (SIT) filed a 5,000-page chargesheet before a local court, naming him as the prime accused in the case..In November, a trial court had rejected his application for bail, prompting Mishra to move the High Court.Justice Rajeev Singh of the Allahabad High Court then granted bail to Mishra on February 10, stating that there might have been a possibility that the driver of the vehicle that mowed down the protesting farmers sped up the vehicle to save himself.The Uttar Pradesh government did not file an appeal against the bail order, prompting the family members to move the top court..On the merits of the order, the plea said that the High Court did not consider the overwhelming evidence against Mishra while granting bail, since the chargesheet against him was not brought on record.It was submitted that the High Court granted bail without considering the heinous nature of the crime, the character of the overwhelming evidence against the accused in the chargesheet, the position and status of the accused with reference to the victims and witnesses, the likelihood of the accused fleeing from justice and repeating the offence and the possibility of his tampering with witnesses and obstructing the course of justice..The plea further stated that victims were prevented from bringing the relevant material to the notice of High Court as their counsel got disconnected from the hearing of the bail matter on January 18.The counsel could barely make any submissions and repeated calls to the court staff to get reconnected were to no avail. Thus, the application filed by the victims before the High Court for an effective re-hearing was rejected, the plea said..Last week, Advocate Prashant Bhushan had mentioned the matter before the apex court, claiming that one of the witnesses in the case had been attacked. The Court then agreed to list the matter on March 15..[Lakhimpur Kheri] Witness attacked, claims Prashant Bhushan; Supreme Court to hear appeal against Ashish Mishra bail on March 15.[Read a live account of the hearing]