The Supreme Court has cancelled the bail granted to Ashish Mishra, son of Union Minister Ajay Mishra, in Lakhimpur Kheri violence case. A bench headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana pronounced the verdict. The court asked Ashish Mishra to report to prison in a week, and stated that the Allahabad HC bail verdict cannot be sustained.
The top court on April 4 had reserved its order on a plea of farmers seeking cancellation of bail to Ashish Mishra. The apex court had earlier raised questions over the Allahabad High Court verdict granting bail to Ashish Mishra, saying unnecessary details like postmortem report and nature of wounds should not have been gone into when the trial was yet to commence.
The special bench, also comprising Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli, had also taken strong note of the fact that the state government did not file an appeal against the high court's order as suggested by the apex court-appointed SIT.
The bench had taken note of the submissions of senior advocate Dushyant Dave and Prashant Bhushan, appearing for farmers, that the high court did not consider the extensive charge sheet and rather relied upon the FIR where it was alleged that one person received bullet injuries.
Senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for the state, had said that the accused was not a flight risk and has no criminal record. The bail was granted after the high court took note of the facts including the postmortem report which did not indicate bullet injuries of the deceased.
On March 16, the top court had sought responses of the Uttar Pradesh government and Ashish Mishra, on a plea challenging the grant of bail to him.
-Inputs from PTI
