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Granting bail to Ashish Mishra, who is accused of shooting farmers with his gun while running from the protest site in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, the Allahabad High Court has observed that evidently no firearm injuries have been found on any of the deceased protesters, on the contrary, protesters had brutally killed Thar passengers. 

The bench of Justice Rajeev Singh has noted in the order, "This Court 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 photograph available in the case diary clearly reveals the brutality of the protesters, those were beating the said three persons, namely, Hariom Mishra, Shubham Mishra and Shyam Sunder."

Importantly, taking note of the facts that at the time of the alleged incident, thousands of protesters were present who were standing on both sides of the road, which was 12 feet wide and as per the defense story Mishra and other car passengers were being chased by the attacking protesters, court has noted, 

"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."

Court has also highlighted that as per the conclusion of the Investigation Officer, which he had drawn on the basis of video clips aired by the protesters themselves, the protesters had chased the three deceased car passengers and had beaten them brutally, which had resulted in their death.

Noting thus, the court has instead directed the organizers of the protest to assist in the investigation and to provide the details of the accused persons, whose involvement is found in the video clip as well as photographs collected by the police during the course of the investigation.

Therefore, considering the overall facts of the case, court has granted bail to Mishra. The order reads, 

"The prosecution alleged that the applicant provoked the driver of the vehicle for crushing the protesters, however, the driver along with two others, who were in the vehicle, had been killed by the protesters. It is further evident that during the course of investigation, notice was issued to the applicant and he appeared before the Investigating Officer. It is also evident that the charge sheet has already been filed. In such circumstances, this Court is of the view that the applicant is entitled to be released on bail."

Cause Title: Ashish Mishra @ Monu Mishra vs State of UP