BREAKING| Lakhmipur Kheri Case : Bail Granted To Ashish Mishra Challenged In Supreme Court As A "Manifest Error'

An application has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging Allahabad High Court's order dated February 10, 2022 of granting bail to Ashish Mishra, prime accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence incident which had claimed lives of 8 people.The application has been filed by Advocates Shiv Kumar Tripathi and CS Panda in the PIL(In Re Violence In Lakhimpur Kheri(UP) Leading To Loss Of Life| WP(Crl) No.426/2021) which was registered by the Supreme Court on the basis of a letter petition seeking proper investigation into the case in which the son of Union Minister Ajay Kumar Mishra is involved.It has also been stated in the application that there is a manifest error apparent on the face of record in paragraph 23 of the High Court's order where it was observed that it was possible that the the driver (of Thar) tried to speed up the vehicle to save himself from the protesters.The issue relates to the death of farmers protesters in Lakhmimpur Kher in October last year, who were allegedly ran over by the vehicles in the convoy of Ashish Mishra.In this regards it has been stated in the application that, "In para 23 manifest error is clear cut having regard to the mandatory necessity that no presumption pre-conceived action ought to creep into the judicial mind while dealing with a case of heinous crime of murder. How could the learned High Court Justice rest his reasoning on presumption and guess work using the word "might" to arrive at a conclusion that the said crime culminated in a possibility of the driver trying to speed up the vehicle to save himself. The said conclusion by the learned High Court justice is unsustainable in law."The applicants have averred that the High Court's reasoning sufferers from the vices of non application of judicial mind taking recourse to assumptions without the support of direct evidence.Relief for passing appropriate direction to the SIT led by Retd. Justice Rakesh Jain and the State Prosecution /Police of Uttar Pradesh to show-cause as to why things were delayed, to furnish/supply a copy of the whole gamut of the report comprising the charge-sheet and file report as directed by the Top Court has also been sought."The style of functioning under the newly constituted SIT is appearing to be a biased one since in respect of the three persons sitting in the that vehicle including their driver allegedly killed by the protestors and the process of treating both the FIR 219/21 and 220/21 on different footing spells out discrimination hitting Article 14 of the Constitution of India," the plea states.Backrgound Essentially, a case was registered against Mishra for an incident that took place on October 3, when several farmers were holding protests against the visit of Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya to Lakhimpur Kheri district, and four protesting farmers were killed after they were mowed down by an SUV.Allegedly, the SUV was part of the convoy of Union Minister of State for Home Affairs and BJP MP Ajay Kumar Mishra (Ashish Mishra's father).Thereafter, the police had filed a first information report against Ashish Mishra (son of minister Ajay Kumar Mishra) and several others in connection with the violence case under Section 302 IPC.The Uttar Pradesh Police on January 3 had filed a charge sheet in the Lakhimpur Kheri Violence case before a local Court in Lakhimpur naming Union Minister Ajay Mishra's son, Ashish Mishra as the prime accused.It may be noted that in December, the Special Investigation Team of the Uttar Pradesh police that is probing the Lakhimpur Kheri violence incident had said before the Lakhimpur local Court that there was a planned conspiracy to kill the people present during the incident."It appears from the probe that has been conducted and material collected till now that the said act wasn't a negligent act committed by the accused, rather, it was done intentionally as per premeditated plan to kill...", the application filed by the SIT avers.Further, the police had also prayed before the Court that Sections 304A (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 279 (negligent driving), and 338 (causing grievous hurt) against all accused be removed and instead, Sections 307 (attempt to murder), 326 (causing hurt with dangerous weapon), 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), and 3/25 Arms Act be registered against them.The Supreme Court in November 2021 appointed Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain, former judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, to monitor the investigation in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.Case Title: In Re: Violence In Lakhimpur Kheri (UP) Leading To Loss Of Life

BREAKING| Lakhmipur Kheri Case : Bail Granted To Ashish Mishra Challenged In Supreme Court As A "Manifest Error'

Shruti Kakkar

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