Charges framed against Ashish Mishra, 12 others
LAKHIMPUR KHERI: The court of additional district judge of Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri on Tuesday framed charges against Ashish Mishra and 13 others in connection with the October 2021 violence in the district’s Tikunia area, in which four farmers were killed. Ashish Mishra is the son of Minister of State for Home Ajay Kumar Mishra.
“The court framed charges against all the 14 accused in FIR number 219 lodged in connection with the Tikunia violence, said Arvind Tripathi, district government counsel (criminal). “All of them, barring Virendra Shukla, who is on bail, were produced in the court on Tuesday through video conferencing, and the charges against them were communicated.”
The court fixed December 16 as the date for the prosecution to produce evidences against the accused, he said.
Charges against 13 of the 14 accused -- Ashish Mishra, Ankit
Das, Nandan Singh Bisht, Satya Prakash Tripathi, Latif alias Kale, Shekhar Bharti, Sumit Jaiswal, Ashish Pandey, Lavkush Rana, Shishu Pal, Ullhas Kumar alias Mohit Trivedi, Rinku Rana and Dharmendra Banjara -- were framed under sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapons), 149 (offence committed in prosecution of common object), 307 (attempt to murder), 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons), 302 (murder), 427 (mischief causing damage), 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal code as well as Section 177 (General provision for punishment of offences) of the Motor Vehicles Act, the government lawyer said at a media briefing.
The court also framed charges under Section 30 (violation of conditions of arms license or arms rules) of the Arms Act against Ashish Mishra, Ankit Das, Satya Prakash Tripathi and Latif alias Kale, Section 5/27 (Punishment for using arms) of the Arms Act against Nandan Singh Bisht and Section 3/25 (for selling or transferring any firearm without informing the district magistrate or the officer in-charge of the nearest police station ) of the Arms Act against Sumit Jaiswal. Charges under Section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the penal code were framed against the 14th accused, Virendra Shukla, who is on bail, Tripathi added.
On October 3, 2021, violence erupted in Tikunia area amid the agitation of farmers, when four of them and a journalist were allegedly crushed to death by speeding vehicles of the motorcade of the Union minister’s son. In the ensuing violence, three more persons, including two workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party and a driver, were lynched by the agitated farmers.