New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday, issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh Government on a plea filed by Ashish Mishra, challenging the Allahabad High Court’s decision which denied him bail in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case. The response was sought by a bench led by Justice Indira Banerjee which briefly heard Mr. Mishra’s lawyer, Mukul Rohatgi argument. The apex court has sought a response by September 26th.
Rohatgi in his argument claimed that the vehicle that allegedly ran over the protesting farmers was driven by another person. Mr. Mishra is named as an accused in two FIRs, one of which dealt with an accusation that he ran out of the vehicle and fired shots from a sugarcane field.
The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court had granted bail to Ashish Mishra in February this year.
However, the Supreme Court in April set aside the bail order and had directed the Allahabad high court to reconsider his bail plea after affording adequate opportunity to the victims’ side.
The 24-page judgment in April had said the High Court had exceeded its jurisdiction and denied the victims a chance to participate in the bail proceedings.
“Victims certainly cannot be expected to be sitting on the fence and watching the proceedings from afar, especially when they may have legitimate grievances. It is the solemn duty of a court to deliver justice before the memory of an injustice eclipses,” Justice Surya Kant, who authored the judgment, had observed.