Munmun Kaur
Published On: February 11, 2022 at 16:26 IST
The Allahabad High Court on February 10, granted Bail to Ashish Mishra, son of Union Minister Ajay Mishra Teni in the Lakhimpur Kheri matter.
While granting Bail, Justice Rajeev Singh said that there might be a possibility that the driver of the vehicle that mowed down protesting farmers, speed up the vehicle to save himself. He further said that the Court cannot “Shut its eyes” to the killing of three persons including the driver sitting in the vehicle, by the protesters.
The Court took note of the fact that the FIR wrongly attributed the role of firing at the protesters to Mishra since there was no firearm injury found on the body of the deceased. The Court also noted that during the course of the investigation, notice was issued to Mishra. He appeared before the Investigating Officer, altogether the Chargesheet was also filed.
Counsel appearing for Mishra argued that he had been falsely implicated in the present case. On the other hand, Counsel for the State submitted that protestors ran over with the vehicles of Mishra and his followers which resulted in the death of five persons and 13 other were injured.
Besides granting Bail to Mishra, the High Court expressed its concern over the lack of seriousness by the District Administration in handling the violence of some people, for their political benefits.
The High Court observed that in the present case, though the Order under Section 144 Criminal Procedure Code was operating, 17 thousand people from different districts, even from other States gathered at one place which was very well in the knowledge of the District Administration evident from the statement of its officials but neither any preventive action was taken nor any action against the organizers had been taken.
The High Court directed the Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh to issue necessary directions and guidelines for regulating assemblies and processions in order to avoid inconvenience caused to the citizens.