"Prime Witness In Lakhimpur Kheri Case Attacked" : Prashant Bhushan Tells Supreme Court Seeking Urgent Hearing Of Challenge Against Ashish Mishra's Bail
Advocate Prashant Bhushan told the Supreme Court on Friday that one of the witnesses in the Lakhimpur Kheri case was attacked last night.Saying this, Bhushan sought urgent listing of the petition filed by the families of the crime victims against the bail granted to accused Ashish Mishra, the son of Union Minister Ajay Mishra, in the case.Last week, Bhushan had sought the urgent listing of...
Advocate Prashant Bhushan told the Supreme Court on Friday that one of the witnesses in the Lakhimpur Kheri case was attacked last night.
Saying this, Bhushan sought urgent listing of the petition filed by the families of the crime victims against the bail granted to accused Ashish Mishra, the son of Union Minister Ajay Mishra, in the case.
Last week, Bhushan had sought the urgent listing of the petition, upon which CJI Ramana agreed to list it today (March 11). However, the matter has not been listed today.
"It was to be heard today...", Bhushan told the CJI today.
"It is an office mistake. It will be listed next Tuesday", the CJI said.
"Last night there was an attack on one of the prime witnesses of the case", Bhushan submitted.
The special leave petition has been filed by the family members of the farmers who got killed in the Lakhmipur Kheri violence challenging the order passed by the Allahabad High Court on February 10 to grant bail to Ashish Mishra.
In the bail order, the High Court had observed that it is possible that the driver of the offending vehicle must have tried to speed up to protect himself from the protesters.
"..in case, the story of the prosecution is accepted, thousands of protesters gathered at the place of incident and there might be a possibility that the driver tried to speed up the vehicle to save himself, on account of which, the incident had taken place", the Court had observed.
While considering the overall facts of the case, the Court observed that it cannot shut its eyes to the killing of three persons sitting in the Thar vehicle, including the driver, who were killed by the protesters.
The Court also noted that the photograph available in the case diary clearly revealed the brutality of the protesters, who were beating the said three persons, namely, Hariom Mishra, Shubham Mishra, and Shyam Sunder.
The Court also took into account the conclusion arrived at by the Investigating Officer of the case that after the said incident of hitting of the protesters by the Thar vehicle, the protesters had chased Shubham Mishra, Hariom Mishra, and Shyam Sunder and they were beaten brutally, on account of which, they died.
Family members approach Supreme Court
The special leave petition filed in the Supreme Court, through Advocate Prashant Bhushan, has stated that the lack of any discussion in the High Court's order as regards the settled principles for grant of bail is on account of lack of any substantive submissions to this effect by the State as the accused wields substantial influence over the State government as his father is a Union Minister from the same political party that rules the State.
Further , according to the petitioners, the observation of the High Court that, "there might be a possibility that the driver tried to speed up the vehicle to save himself, on account of which, the incident had taken place", is perverse especially when there was nothing on record to show the same.
Further, the petition has pointed out that there is evidence in fact in the chargesheet to the contrary showing that the vehicles had been dashing at high speeds of 70-100 km/hr from the time they left the venue of the 'dangal'; when they passed the petrol pump, when they crossed the police crossing; all the way to the scene of the crime; and the same has been attested to by various eye witnesses including police officials on duty.