UP opposes Mishra’s bail plea, verdict reserved

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its order on the bail petition of Ashish Mishra, son of Union minister Ajay Mishra, in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri violence, after the Uttar Pradesh government said the case involved a heinous offence.

Ashish Mishra approached the apex court against rejection of his bail by the Allahabad high court on July 26 last year. He was accused of travelling in a car that mowed down four farmers in October 2021 while they were protesting against the now-repealed farm laws. Mishra said it was a case of cross-FIR as farmers attacked his car and even killed two occupants.

“If this court rejects bail, we have serious doubts they (accused) will be given bail. The accused may be languishing in jail,” said a bench of justices Surya Kant and JK Maheshwari, while reserving its order.

Mishra, represented by senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, said that “because he is a minister’s son, he should not be denied bail”. He also submitted there was no allegation of tampering of evidence and his client had no past criminal antecedents. The state government, represented by additional advocate general (AAG) Garima Parshad, told the court: “There is no tampering of evidence but this is a grave and heinous crime. If bail is granted, this will send a wrong message to the society.”

To this, the bench remarked,

“Prima facie he is an accused. There is no question of treating him as innocent. There is something against him, no doubt about that. But there are two versions, both having the same genesis. Which version is correct will be subject matter of trial.”

The deceased farmers’ families, represented by senior advocate Dushyant Dave, submitted: “He (Mishra) is a powerful minister’s son who is represented by powerful lawyers. We cannot shut our eyes to what powerful people can do to a trial.” The bench replied: “Father is not an accused and he is still in power...It is a case of balancing rights of parties.”

Ashish Mishra