Lakhimpur Kheri Case| Supreme Court Asks UP Police & Prosecutor To Ensure Presence Of Witnesses To Avoid Delay In Trial

Previously, the Bench of Justices Surya Kant and JK Maheshwari, while deciding to keep the regular bail application filed by Mishra pending, granted him interim bail for eight weeks, which is being extended from time to time. The order came with a slew of conditions imposed on Mishra.

To state some of them, the Court directed him not to stay either in the State of UP or the NCT of Delhi during the period of interim bail. He was further asked to surrender his passport before the trial court and to enter the State of UP only to attend the trial court proceedings. A detailed story on the submissions put forth by the parties and order passed by the Court can be read here.

In addition, the trial court was directed to prioritise the deposition of the protected witnesses and to send a progress report to the Supreme Court after every hearing date, along with details of witnesses examined on each date.

Today, Senior Advocate Siddhartha Dave, appearing for Mishra, apprised the Court that as per the office report, the report dated March 20, 2024, has been sent to the Top Court. He said that it was received on March 26.

After perusing the report, the Bench of Justices Surya Kant and P.S. Narasimha inquired about the examination of one of the witnesses. Answering this, Dave said that the witness was cross-examined on April 20. However, Justice Kant expressed his concern about the examination of two witnesses.

“District Police must ensure that two or three days in advance the witness will be there. One witness's statement started in December on 23^rd, 2023 and eventually in April now the cross-examination is complete. It should not take four months.”

Notably, during the hearing, Advocate Prashant Bhushan (appearing for the victims) apprised the Bench that Mishra has been participating in various political functions recently.

“There are also posters which have been put up of his political appearances in UP and there is a video of distributing tricycles in UP. So, I do not know how that is being allowed. I can file an affidavit.”

At this, Justice Kant firmly stated that if he is distributing something and attending the function physically, then it will definitely amount to the violation of the bail condition.

The same argument was fervently opposed by Dave. He submitted: “I do not trust video. We are complying with the terms. We only go there when there is a hearing one day before the date…I am not that foolish that I will participate after getting liberty from your lordships.”

After hearing the above submissions, the Court ultimately passed the following order:

“The presiding officer…has sent the report dated March 20, 2024, the same has been perused. We find from the report that it was a difficult task for the trial court to record statements of (two witnesses) as both the witnesses initially expressed their unwillingness to depose due to ill health and thereafter counsel for the parties including the public prosecutor seemingly did not cooperate with the Trial Court. However, the statements were eventually recorded… and the cross examination of…stands concluded.

It seems that the public prosecutor and the local police need to take some effective steps to ensure the presence of witnesses so that the time to trial is not wanted. In this regard registry is directed to supply the copy of soft copy report dated March 20, 2024 to…the Senior Additional AG, UP for necessary action..."

Before parting, the Court also orally asked Bhushan to file his affidavit in regard to today's submissions. 

Ashish Mishra, son of Union Minister Ajay Mishra, is embroiled in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence, which revolves around the killings of five persons in October 2021. Allegedly, vehicles of Mishra's convoy ran over a group of farmers who were protesting against the farm laws.

Initially, the Allahabad High Court had granted bail to Mishra on February 10, 2022, but it was set aside by the Supreme Court bench comprising the then CJI NV Ramana, Justice Surya Kant and Justice Hima Kohli in April 2022 after noting that the High Court took into account irrelevant considerations and ignored relevant factors. The bail application was then remanded to the High Court. The Supreme Court's order came in an appeal filed by the relatives of the farmers who got killed in the crime.

On July 26, the High Court dismissed the bail application after re-hearing the matter, following the remand by the Supreme Court.

Case Title: Ashish Mishra Alias Monu v. State of U.P. SLP(Crl) No. 7857/2022

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