Judge who gave bail to Mishra recuses himself

LUCKNOW: An Allahabad high court judge on Wednesday recused himself from a bench hearing the bail plea of Ashish Mishra, son of Union minister Ajay Kumar Mishra ‘Teni’, in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case.

Justice Rajeev Singh of the Lucknow bench of the high court, who had earlier granted bail to Ashish, recused himself from hearing it again after the Supreme Court cancelled his bail order on April 18.

Justice Singh, however, gave no reason for withdrawing himself from the single-judge bench hearing the bail plea. The date for the next hearing will now be fixed after the constitution of a new bench. Last week, a bench, headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, set aside the February 10 high court order for “ignoring judicial precedents and established parameters for grant of bail” and asked the high court to decide Mishra’s bail afresh, in “a fair, impartial and dispassionate manner”, preferably within three months.

Allowing a petition filed by the families of three of the victims who were mowed down by a convoy of cars during a farmers’ protest against the now-repealed farm laws in October 2021, the bench directed that the families would be given sufficient opportunity to be heard when Mishra’s bail plea is considered in future and that they would also be provided with a legal aid counsel in case they are unable to engage a lawyer at their own expense.

Ashish is the main accused in the October 3 incident wherein a vehicle belonging to the Union minister allegedly mowed down four farmers during the stir. Two BJP workers and a driver were beaten to death, while a local journalist was killed in the violence that ensued.