The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed Ashish Mishra, son of former Union Minister Ajay Mishra and an accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, to file an affidavit regarding the allegations that he was threatening the witnesses.
The Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan issued the direction after Senior Advocate Siddharth Dave, appearing for Mishra, denied the charges levelled by the witnesses.
The Apex Court showed the Counsel certain photographs regarding the allegations, to which Dave responded that the photos had been filed with oblique reasons.
The Senior Counsel contended that every time the case came up for hearing, something like this cropped up. He submitted that the photographs were not meant for this Court, they were meant for outside.
The Bench then ordered Mishra to file an affidavit over the charges levelled by the witnesses and listed the matter for hearing after four weeks.
Earlier on July 22 this year, the Apex Court had granted bail to Ashish Mishra in the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence that claimed eight lives.
On January 25, 2023, the Apex Court had given interim bail to Ashish Mishra in the case.
The Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan also granted bail to farmers in the case and directed the trial court to expedite hearing.
The top court of the country said in its order that taking into consideration all the attending circumstances, it was making its interim order as absolute.
Noting that out of 117 witnesses, seven have been examined so far, the Bench directed the trial court to fix the schedule, keeping in view other time-bound or urgent matters that were pending, while prioritising the pending subject.
Violence had erupted in Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh on October 3, 2021, when four of the farmers protesting against Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya’s visit to the area were mowed down by a sports utility vehicle. the farmers were protesting against the Centre’s now-repealed three agriculture laws.
A driver and two Bharatiya Janata Party workers were allegedly lynched by angry farmers. A journalist also died during the incident.
The trial court had, on December 6, 2023, framed charges against Mishra and 12 others for the alleged offences of murder, criminal conspiracy and under other penal laws in the case of the farmers’ deaths, paving the way for the trial to start.