Lucknow: The Allahabad High Court on Monday denied bail to four accused including Union Minister of state for home affairs Ajay Mishra Teni in the October 3, 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence incident in which eight people were killed.
The Bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh observed: "Political persons holding high offices, should make public utterances in a decent language considering its repercussions in the Society. They should not make irresponsible statements as they are required to conduct themselves befitting their status and dignity of high office which they hold."
Ashish Mishra had been arrested in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case in which eight people, including four farmers and a journalist, were killed and several others were injured when a convoy of SUVs, including a Thar allegedly owned by Ajay Mishra, had run over a group of protesting farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri.
In the violence that followed, two BJP workers and the driver of the Thar vehicle too were killed. The farmers were protesting against the then Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya’s visit to the area on October 3 last year. According to the FIR lodged in the case, Ashish Mishra was sitting in one of the cars.
The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court had granted regular bail to Ashish Mishra, observing that the present case was one of “accident by hitting with the vehicle”. But the Supreme Court canceled the bail, saying that the victims were denied “a fair and effective hearing” by the Allahabad High Court, which adopted a “myopic view of the evidence”. The top court had also Ashish Mishra to surrender before the court and asked the high court to hear Mishra’s bail plea afresh. Mishra had surrendered before the court of Lakhimpur Kheri’s chief judicial magistrate on April 24.
Also read: Lakhimpur Kheri violence: HC judge withdraws from bench hearing Ashish Mishra’s bail plea
