Lakhimpur Kheri Violence | Allahabad High Court Judge Recuses From Hearing Ashish Mishra's Bail Plea

Justice Rajiv Singh of Allahabad High Court's Lucknow Bench today recused himself from hearing the bail plea of Union Minister's Son, Ashish Mishra, who is a prime accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri Violence case.

Mishra is facing a case of Murder for an incident that took place on October 3, 2021, when four protesting farmers were killed after they were mowed down by an SUV, in which Mishra was allegedly sitting.

Mishra, who was earlier granted bail by the Allahabad HC in Feb 2022, has to again move to the High Court as the HC's earlier order was set aside by the Supreme Court last week and had ordered fresh consideration of his bail plea.

The case background

The Bench of Justice Rajiv Singh had earlier granted bail to Mishra on February 10, noting that there was a possibility that the driver (of Thar) had tried to speed up the vehicle to save himself, on account of which, the incident had taken place.

This order of the HC was challenged before the Supreme Court after an SLP was filed by the family members of the murdered farmers against the impugned order, as the State of Uttar Pradesh had failed to file an appeal against the impugned order.

Now, on March 16, the Supreme Court had issued a notice in the matter, and on April 4, it had reserved orders on the plea to set aside the bail granted to Ashish Mishra in the Lakhimpur Kheri case.

On April 4, in a significant observation, the Court had told the State of Uttar Pradesh that it ought to have filed an appeal against the bail order as recommended by the judge monitoring the Special Investigation Team.

"We expected state to act on suggestion of the SIT", the bench orally told the State. The State, while saying that the offence was grave, added that Mishra was not a flight risk and that the witnesses have been given adequate protection.

It may be noted that on April 18, the Supreme Court had set aside the Allahabad High Court order granting bail granted to Ashish Mishra. Holding that the High Court passed the order taking into account irrelevant considerations and denying the right of hearing to the victim, the Court set aside the bail order and asked Mishra to surrender within a week.

In the order to cancel Mishra's bail in the case, the Supreme Court had expressed its disappointment at the Allahabad High Court for refusing to hear the victims of the case before granting him bail.

The Court also made a critical comment about the "tearing hurry" shown by the High Court in granting bail. The Top Court noted that the High Court ought to have acknowledged the rights of the victims to participate in the hearings of the bail pleas of the accused. The close relatives of the farmers who got killed in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence had sought to intervene in the bail application filed by Mishra before the High Court. However, their lawyers could not make effective submissions as they got disconnected during the virtual hearing. Though they filed an application for re-hearing, the High Court did not consider it.

Regarding the approach of the High Court to deal with the bail application, the Supreme Court noted :

"...we are constrained to express our disappointment with the manner in which the High Court has failed to acknowledge the right of the victims. It is worth mentioning that, the complainant in FIR No. 219 of 2021, as well as the present Appellants, are close relatives of the farmers who have lost their lives in the incident dated 03.10.2021. The specific stance taken by learned Senior Counsel for the Appellants that the Counsel for the 'victims' had got disconnected from the online proceedings and could not make effective submissions before the High Court has not been controverted by the Respondents. Thereafter, an application seeking a rehearing on the ground that the 'victims' could not participate in the proceedings was also moved but it appears that the same was not considered by the High Court while granting bail to the Respondent­Accused".

The bail application was also remanded back to the High Court for a fresh decision on merits after taking note of relevant considerations and after affording the right of hearing to the victim.

Now, today, when the matter came up before the Bench, the bench recused itself from hearing the case, now the matter will go to the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court for the constitution of a fresh bench to hear the matter.