"There Should Be Consistent Law On Bail, Delhi Riots Accused Are Still In Jail, 13,000 Undertrial Prisoners In Murder Cases In Up": Dushyant Dave In Ashish Mishra Case

In Ashish Mishra's bail hearing in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave, for the victims, told the Supreme Court that if Mishra is to be released while on murder charges, there should be consistent law and the Delhi riots accused, as also the 13,000 undertrials for murder languishing in UP jails should be accorded the same treatment."The Kerala Journalist (Siddique Kappan) who had gone to cover a Dalit girl's rape case in UP has been in jail for several years!", he advanced.The bench of Justices Surya Kant and Maheshwari had observed, "The impact of rejection of bail by this court and setting aside of bail by this court is that- this is the technical experience I have gained so far- the 4, 5 persons in the other case (against the protesters) and 7, 8 persons in this FIR (against Mishra), till the time the trial is concluded, we have serious doubt if any of them will be granted bail by the sessions court or by the High Court....I don’t only see the so-called victim, I also see those who are unable to reach the court. The other victims are those farmers who are languishing in jail. If this court is not granting bail, no court will grant them bail. Who is going to take care of them?"Mr. Dave replied, "I am really surprised that your lordships are making this comparison! I am disappointed! Is this man entitled to bail? That is the question!"The court-room exchange as it transpired on Thursday is as follows-Senior Advocate Garima Prashad, AAG for the state of UP: "Your Lordships had put certain queries to the state. The accused are in jail so far as the 220 FIR (the FIR subsequent to the FIR against Mishra) is concerned. Applications for bail have been rejected by the trial court and now the applications are pending before the High Court"Justice Surya Kant: "2 accused died, not after arrest, but at the spot. They are still named as accused. In the first FIR, there are 8 accused including the petitioner and all 8 are in custody. In the 220 FIR, 4 accused and all in custody"Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, for Mishra: "As far as my client is concerned, he has been in custody for more than 1 year. He was granted bail, which was set aside by this court with liberty to apply again. Now my bail has been refused and I am here. Your Lordships first asked the trial court if not giving priority to this case, what is the position of time taken. There are 208 witnesses against me. The Trial court is taking 5 years, if no priority given. The second FIR has another 198 witnesses. Both being cross-FIRs will be tried analogously. If 5 years given, the approximate time in my case, the way it is going, will be 7-8 years, excluding if someone goes to challenge discharge or something. It could well be a decade"Mr. Rohatgi: "The Complainant in FIR 219 (against Mishra) is one Jagjeet Singh who is not an eye witness. He has only hearsay. I am surprised that when a large number of people were there who are saying he ran over with his car, why would you have an FIR by one who is not an eye-witness. The Deputy CM of UP on a particular day was to come to a place and go to watch a 'dangal', he was to land by helicopter at a place where the farmers' protest was going on. They were collecting on that road where he would land. It is the case of this complainant that 3-4 cars came and in 1 car my client, son of Union state minister, was sitting with five people and the cars were moving mercilessly through the crowd and killed some people and that is why he is guilty of murder.The record shows that they are talking of a Mahindra Thar which carried 5 people. One of them, Jaiswal, has lodged the cross-FIR. He says that we came and these people were throwing 'lathis', they were kicking the doors, they pulled out the driver and Injured him, they pulled out and killed another. Jaiswal said I was the eye-witness and I ran away. He says I ran for my life and kept running till I collapsed. There are photographs on record, an SIT was appointed"Justice Suryakant: "There is a dispute with regard to the germinus of the photos. It would not be correct to refer to them. That would be a subject matter of trial"Mr. Rohatgi: "Jaiswal is in the photo. How is it doubted that he is incorrect? Whose version is correct- that hearsay or one who was there in car and an eye witness? In the first FIR, he admits that it is hearsay, that he got a call from his nephew"Mr. Rohatgi: "There are CDR also. Ignore photos. Call records don't lie. The incident happened at 3 PM. My client was 4 km away, he had to go to the dangal site. It is not a case of premeditated murder. The crowd was unruly and attacked. Both our people and some farmers were killed. There was no fire, no gunshot wound. Would it not be case for bail? I am not one with a criminal record"AAG: "We are contesting the bail. We stand by the high court order. We have filed repeated affidavits contesting bail. There are affidavits on record stating accused Ashish Mishra was...

"There Should Be Consistent Law On Bail, Delhi Riots Accused Are Still In Jail, 13,000 Undertrial Prisoners In Murder Cases In Up": Dushyant Dave In Ashish Mishra Case

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