New Delhi: The Allahabad high court denied bail to four accused men in the case of the Lakhimpur Kheri violence last year, noting that the incident might not have happened had Union minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ajay Mishra not made alleged utterances earlier.
Four farmers were killed on October 3 after a vehicle connected with Ajay Mishra’s son, Ashish, ran them over. In the violence that ensued, four more people, including a journalist, died.
The bench of Dinesh Kumar Singh was hearing the bail applications of four accused in the case: Lavkush, Ankit Das, Sumit Jaiswal and Shishupal, Live Law reported.
During the hearing, the court pulled up an allegedly inflammatory speech made by Ajay Mishra a few days prior to the incident. The court said that if the minister had not made the alleged statement, the incident might not have taken place.
“Political persons holding high offices, should make public utterances in a decent language considering its repercussions in the society. They should not make irresponsible statements as they are required to conduct themselves befitting their status and dignity of high office which they hold,” Live Law quoted Justice Singh as observing orally.
“As submitted, this incident might not have taken place if the Union minister of state for home did not make alleged utterances,” Justice Singh said.
Addressing a public gathering on September 25, 2021, Ajay Mishra had told farmers (who were demonstrating across the country against the three agricultural laws, which were eventually withdrawn) to “discipline” themselves. “Or else we will discipline you. It will only take two minutes,” he said.
The protesting farmers had taken objection to the minister’s threat, which had led them to organise a peaceful protest in Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3. The site for the protest was also consequently fixed near a helipad where Haryana deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya was set to land on that day.
Moreover, the court said it was “intrigued” by the fact that a dangal (wrestling event) had been organised there on October 3, even though Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) was in place in the region.
Justice Singh was referring to a purported wrestling event which Ajay Mishra and his son, Ashish – the main accused in the case – claimed to have attended from 11 am on the morning of October 3 and which they had invited deputy chief minister Maurya to.
Maurya did not land at the helipad as planned and the protesting farmers were not immediately apprised of the deputy chief minister’s change of plans.
Maurya was the ‘chief guest’ of this event, which further bemused Justice Singh in the present case. Justice Singh said it was “unbelievable” that the deputy chief minister would not have been aware that Section 144 had been imposed in the area.
While denying bail to the four accused, the court noted that all of them, as well as Ashish Mishra, belong to influential political families and thus the apprehension that they may interfere with the course of justice, tamper with evidence or influence witnesses, could not be ruled out at this stage.
While Ashish Mishra had been granted bail by the Allahabad high court on February 10 this year and was subsequently released from prison, the Supreme Court on April 18 cancelled Mishra’s bail, saying that the families of those killed during the October 3 incident – who had sought to intervene in Mishra’s bail plea – had not been adequately heard.
Chastising the Allahabad high court for its “tearing hurry” to grant Mishra bail and they way it set aside established judicial precedents, a bench of Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana and Justices Hima Kohli and Surya Kant had set aside the court’s bail order and sent the matter back for fresh consideration.
The court had also asked Ashish Mishra to surrender to the police. The Wire
