On January 25, the Supreme Court granted Ashish Mishra an eight-week interim bail in the case. The court directed that he must not reside in either Uttar Pradesh or Delhi during this interim bail period, surrender his passport to the trial court, and refrain from entering Uttar Pradesh except for attending trial proceedings.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court allowed Ashish Mishra, the prime accused in the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, which resulted in the loss of eight lives, to visit and stay in Delhi to tend to his ailing mother and daughter. In January, the apex court had granted Mishra, the son of the Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ajay Mishra Teni, an eight-week interim bail. However, he was prohibited from entering either the national capital or Uttar Pradesh.
During the hearing of Mishra’s plea requesting a modification of the interim bail conditions, a bench consisting of Justices Surya Kant and Dipankar Datta directed him not to partake in any public events or engage with the media regarding the case.
Lakhimpur Kheri Violence Case
On October 3, 2021, a violent incident occurred in the Tikunia district of Lakhimpur Kheri, resulting in the deaths of eight individuals during a farmers’ protest against the then Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Keshav Prasad Maurya’s, visit to the area.
As per the UP Police FIR, an SUV, in which Ashish Mishra was present, ran over four farmers. Subsequently, enraged farmers were said to have lynched the SUV driver and two BJP workers. The FIR also reported the death of a journalist during the violence.
Ashish was taken into custody on October 9, 2021, following a lengthy interrogation by the Special Investigation Team (SIT). On February 15, 2022, the high court granted him bail. However, he had to surrender on April 24, 2022, after the Supreme Court revoked his bail order.
In January of the same year, a bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and JK Maheshwari granted Mishra an eight-week interim bail and asserted that the Supreme Court would oversee the trial proceedings in the case.
