The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted interim bail for eight weeks to Ashish Mishra in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case with conditions that he will not stay in Uttar Pradesh and the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi during this period.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and J K Maheshwari also imposed various other conditions including that Mishra will leave Uttar Pradesh within a week of his release.
The top court also directed Mishra to inform the concerned court about his location. The Supreme Court also clarified that any attempt by Mishra or his family to influence witnesses and attempt to delay the trial may lead to the cancellation of his bail. The court has also directed Mishra to mark his attendance at the concerned police station of his location.
Ashish Mishra, the son of Union Minister Ajay Mishra, moved Supreme Court challenging Allahabad High Court which denied bail to him on July 26, 2022, in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case. The bail was rejected by the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court.
Mishra is facing a case of murder for the incident on October 3, 2021, in which eight people, including four farmers, were killed in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri as he allegedly ran over the farmers who were protesting against the Centre's three farm laws.
He was arrested on October 9 and was later granted bail in February 2022.
Mishra again moved to the High Court as the Court's earlier order dated February 10, 2022, was set aside by the Supreme Court in April 2022 and had ordered fresh consideration of his bail plea.
The top court had said that the order of the Allahabad High Court cannot be sustained and had to be set aside and the bail bonds of the respondent/accused are cancelled. The Court had directed Ashish Mishra to surrender within a week.
Family members of the victims of the Lakhimpur Kheri incident moved the Supreme Court challenging the Allahabad High Court order, which granted bail to Ashish Mishra. The top court cancelled the bail plea of Mishra.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had appointed a committee headed by retired Punjab and Haryana high court judge Rakesh Kumar Jain to monitor the probe into the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.
( With inputs from ANI )
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