New Delhi, Jan 25 (LAB) The Supreme Court today granted interim bail for eight weeks to Ashish Mishra, son of Union Minister Ajay Mishra for his alleged involvement in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case of 2021 that led to the death of eight people, including four farmers.
The Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice J.K. Maheshwari said, “we are not expressing a final opinion on the regular bail plea of Mishra and other petitioners, but we are passing an interim order. ” Taking in view the concerns for a fair trial of petitioners and their right to liberty under Article 21, which had to be balanced with the right of the State, we are granting interim bail till March 14.”
The Apex Court directed the Registry to list the matter for March 14 for a hearing of regular bail application and said we will take up the matter after the trial court sent a report on the status of the witnesses being examined.”
The Apex court granted interim bail along with a slew of directions to be followed by Mishra during the period. The Apex Court directed Mishra to leave the state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) within one week of his release and not to stay either in UP or the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
The Bench further told Mishra to inform the trial court about his location. It warned that any attempt by Mishra or his family members to influence the witnesses would lead to the cancellation of bail.
Mishra was directed to attend the trial court proceedings regularly and not to seek any adjournment. Any attempt by Mishra to delay the trial would be taken as a valid ground for cancelling his bail, it added.
The accused was directed to mark his attendance in the police station of the jurisdiction of his location and surrender his passport before the trial court. Mishra was told to enter the State of Uttar Pradesh only to attend the trial court proceedings.
The Apex Court further granted interim bail to the four people, who were accused in the counter-case (registered against the farmers), invoking its suo motu powers.
The top court of the country directed that the four co-accused be released on interim bail until further orders, subject to furnishing bail bonds to the trial court.
It directed the trial court to prioritise the deposition of protected witnesses and send a progress report to the Supreme Court over the matter.
The Bench had reserved orders in the case on January 19, after hearing Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi for Mishra, Additional Advocate General of UP Garima Prashad and Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave for the relatives of victims of the crime./LAB/SNG/