New Delhi, Dec 12.
The Supreme Court on Monday said that it can’t keep Lakhimpur Kheri key accused Asish Mishra, inside jail “indefinitely”, as it would mean “prejudging him guilty” but did not grant him bail for now after the lawyer for the victims, senior advocate Dushyant Dave, opposed the move.
Mishra’s lawyers led by senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi claimed that Mishra was not on the spot of the crime at the time.
He was four kilometres away at an annual dangal in which his father, Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra, and UP Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya, were expected, Rohatgi claimed.
He claimed there were eyewitness and video camera recordings to prove this. Justice Surya Kant then sought the victims’ response on his claims. “How long should someone be kept inside? Keeping him indefinitely will mean prejudging him as guilty,” Justice Surya Kant said in his remarks.
“Just as victims have some rights, accused also have some rights. How do we balance these rights?” he asked.
Justice Surya Kant also observed that trial in the case was unlikely to conclude quickly as the top court cannot direct the lower court trying him to try only his case on a day-to-day basis to the detriment of all other cases.
Senior advocate Dave vehemently opposed the move. He said that the accused ought to be hauled up for perjury for relying on “fabricated documents” to get bail.
Dave pointed out that the top court normally doesn’t release any accused on bail if the trial court and the High Court have both denied him bail.
In case, bail is not normally granted in a murder case. “This is a premeditated crime. His father had publicly threatened the farmers that they would be taught a lesson for protesting against the government.” “These are extraordinarily powerful people.”
“Why was the protest route changed? The cars involved are all in his family’s name. There is nothing exceptional in this case (to grant bail),” he said.
He argued that the state government did not do anything in the case till the court intervened. In its reconstruction of events, the SIT has clearly said that Mishra junior was there on the spot. The rest is an afterthought, he said. The witnesses have been repeatedly attacked. “No one is safe.”
In any case, this court has held that rash and negligent driving is tantamount to murder.
A two-judge bench led by Justice Surya Kant was hearing Mishra’s bail plea. The other judge on the bench was Justice Krishna Murari. The bench eventually adjourned the case till January and sought information from the trial court on how long trial would take in the case.
Mishra junior is accused of running over farmers protesting against the farm laws, killing five farmers on the spot. Three of the vehicle occupants were also killed in the retaliatory violence.
The Allahabad High court granted Mishra bail in Feb 2022, just months after he was arrested in connection with the incident. The incident dates back to Oct 3, 2021. Mishra junior was arrested on Oct 9, 2021.
His bail order was cancelled at the instance of the victims on the ground that the High Court had not heard the complainants’ whose virtual links snapped in the middle of the crucial hearing and the issue remanded back to the High Court.
The High Court denied him bail in July, 2022. He has appealed against this decision to the top court. That was being heard in court today.
