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A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana and consisting of Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli today issued notice in plea seeking cancellation of bail issued to Ashish Mishra, the prime accused in Lakhimpur Kheri violence.

The Court further asked the state of Uttar Pradesh to file a detailed affidavit and provide protection to the witnesses. When the matter came up for hearing, Sr. Adv. Dushyant Dave, submitted that the judge of the Allahabad High Court has misdirected himself on granting bail.

Dave submitted, “The judge has not even taken into consideration that a suo moto case was initiated by the Supreme Court.”  The Court on hearing Dave issued notice and directed the state to file a reply along with a direction to protect witnesses.

The Chief Justice of India (CJI) Justice NV Ramana yesterday indicated that a bench consisting of himself, Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohil which heard the suo moto case pertaining to the Lakhimpur Kheri violence, will tomorrow hear the plea seeking cancellation of bail granted to Ashish Mishra, the prime accused in the violence incident.

Adv. Prashant Bhushan submitted that one of the witnesses to the incident was brutally attacked and that the attackers claimed that since BJP has returned to power, the witness will be put to greater trouble.

The CJI informed Bhushan that the matter will come up for hearing tomorrow.

On March 11, 2022 a Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and consisting of Justices AS Bopanna and Hima Kohli had clarified that the plea seeking cancellation of bail granted to Ashish Mishra, the prime accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, will be heard on Tuesday i.e. March 15.

The Court had earlier indicated that the matter will be heard today, however, the matter did not come up for hearing.

Adv. Prashant Bhushan, on whose mentioning the matter had come to be listed originally, mentioned it again.

Bhushan submitted that yesterday a witness was threatened and hence there is an urgency in listing and hearing the matter.

The Court had assured him that the matter will be listed for hearing on Tuesday.

The family members of the deceased farmers in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case approached the Apex Court challenging order dated February 10 of the Allahabad High Court granting bail to Ashish Mishra, son of Union Minister of State (Home) namely Ajay Mishra Teni.

It has been alleged by the family members that they had to file the appeal as the state of Uttar Pradesh, where the political party of Mishra and his father is in power, has failed to file an appeal against the High Court order.

Bhushan had mentioned the matter before the bench claiming, "others are seeking bail based on this. The High Court has granted bail overseeing evidence tampering etc. We seek urgent listing.”

In the October 3 case, a total of 14 people have been made accused parties. The proceedings in this case are going on before the District Court in which Uttar Pradesh Police filed an exhaustive chargesheet running into 5000 pages on January 3.

Cause Title: Jagjeet Singh and Ors. vs Ashish Mishra Alias Monu and Anr. | In Re: Violence in Lakhimpur Kheri (UP) leading to loss of life