New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday partially modified bail conditions of Ashish Mishra, the prime accused in the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, to visit his family every weekend.
As per the order passed by a Bench of Justices Surya Kant and NK Singh, the son of former Union Home Minister for State can visit his family every Saturday evening but will return the next day (Sunday daytime) to Lucknow.
However, the Justice Kant-led Bench ordered that Mishra should not participate in any public function in Lakhimpur Kheri except spending private time with his family.
The apex court took note of the submission that 16 witnesses, including 10 injured in the violence, have been examined, and suggested the prosecution to reduce the number of formal witnesses to expedite the completion of trial.
It asked the public prosecutor to examine the list of the witnesses to find out whether some of them who may be found unnecessary could be dropped.
In July last year, the top court had confirmed and made absolute interim bail granted to Ashish Mishra, taking note of the fact that only seven of the 114 witnesses were examined till then.
It had asked the trial court to expedite the pending proceedings and ordered Ashish Mishra to stay in Lucknow or Delhi only.
The Supreme Court in January 2023 had imposed a slew of conditions while granting interim bail to Mishra.
It had ruled that Ashish Mishra would have to leave Uttar Pradesh within one week of his release; he cannot stay in UP or Delhi/NCR; he shall inform the court about his location; and any attempt by his family members or Mishra himself to influence witnesses would lead to cancellation of his bail.
The apex court added that Mishra would have to surrender his passport; he would not enter UP except to attend the trial proceedings; and, the prosecution, SIT, Informant or any family member of the victims of the crime would be at liberty to promptly inform the apex court of any incident of misuse of the concession of the interim bail.
Subsequently, it relaxed the bail condition of Ashish Mishra to stay in the national Capital considering that his mother was admitted to a hospital in Delhi and his daughter also required medical treatment.
In October 2021, eight people were killed in Lakhimpur Kheri District’s Tikunia in violence that erupted when farmers were protesting against UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya’s visit to the area.
According to the UP Police FIR, four farmers were mowed down by an SUV, in which Ashish Mishra was seated.
(IANS)
