Supreme Court Grants Bail To Ashish Mishra In Lakhimpur Kheri Case, Permits Him To Stay In Lucknow

Last year, in January 2023, the Bench of Justices Surya Kant and JK Maheshwari granted him interim bail for eight weeks, which was extended from time to time. The order came with a slew of conditions imposed on Mishra.

Amongst those conditions, the Court had also directed Mishra to leave the State of Uttar Pradesh within one week of availing interim bail and not to stay in the State of UP or the NCT of Delhi during his period of interim bail. However, this condition was modified to the extent that he was allowed to stay in Delhi.

After modifying this condition, the Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan made the interim bail order absolute. The Court permitted Mishra to stay either in Delhi or Lucknow, UP. He was also asked to abide by the other terms and conditions imposed in the 2023 order and be entitled to go to the place of trial a day prior.

It is worth mentioning that the Court had previously asked the public prosecutor and the local police to take effective steps to ensure the presence of witnesses during Mishra's trial. The court passed this direction after noting that certain witnesses were not present for examination, which resulted in prolonging the trial.

Against this backdrop, the Court, in today's order, marked that the Trial proceedings are to be expedited as seven of the 117 witnesses have been examined so far. Regarding this, the Court passed the following order:

“We direct the Trial Court to fix the schedule, keeping in view the other time-bound or urgent matters that are pending but prioritising the subject trial. The Public prosecutor shall inform the Trial Court of the witnesses (not less than 5) who shall be produced on the date fixed. The State shall ensure that all witnesses shall remain present.”

The counsel for the petitioner or those presenting other co-accused shall extend full cooperation to the Trial Court in this regard.”

Stating thus, the Trial Court was asked to send the status report before the next date of hearing.

One Can Be Influential Without Being A Minister: Court

At the commencement of today's trial, Senior Advocate Siddhartha Dave, appearing for Mishra, submitted that Mishra's father has lost the elections and, thus, he is no longer an MP. So, the entire controversy that was created about how controversial I am goes out., added Dave.

However, refuting this argument, Justice Kant said that one can be influential without being a minister. “Still, one can be influential. It is not necessary.”

Following this, when the Court asked about the status of Trial, Advocate Prashant Bhushan (appearing for the victims) apprised the Bench that only seven witnesses have been examined in 19 months. Based on this, Bhushan asserted that this way the trial would never end.

At this, Dave requested the Court to relax the aforesaid interim bail condition. To support this, he submitted that Mishra has two daughters who are studying, and he needs to look after them. Dave also said that now that Mishra's father is no longer a minister, he does not have access to his home in Delhi.

Ultimately, the Court conceded, saying that Mishra had to stay away from the place of trial and could go there only a day prior. The Court also suggested that Mishra can be restricted to staying at a particular place in UP.

For this purpose, when Dave suggested Sitapur, the Court denied it, saying it was too close. Thus, Lucknow was decided as a place to stay, and keeping the same in view, the Court passed the aforementioned order.

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