Supreme Court Allows Ashish Mishra to visit Lakhimpur Kheri from Dec 25-31 for Daughter’s Exams
SC allowed Ashish Mishra brief travel to his hometown for family reasons while reaffirming strict bail conditions in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case
The Supreme Court on Thursday permitted Ashish Mishra, son of former Union Minister Ajay Mishra and an accused in the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, to travel to his hometown from December 25 to 31 to be with his daughter ahead of her Class 12 board exams.
The bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi emphasized that all existing bail conditions, including a prohibition on political activity, would continue to apply.
Senior Advocate Siddharth Dave, representing Mishra, submitted the plea for temporary travel, which the court allowed, noting the ongoing trial against Mishra and co-accused. In the case, 36 witnesses have been examined while 85 remain pending, and in a related trial under another FIR, 35 witnesses are yet to be examined.
The Uttar Pradesh Additional Advocate General highlighted that 789 trials are pending before the same judge handling the case. The bench acknowledged the workload of special courts and stated that broader issues related to trial management would be addressed holistically in March 2026.
Previously in May, the Court had modified a previous bail condition to allow Ashish Mishra to visit Lakhimpur Kheri every weekend to meet his family. Justice Surya Kant noted that witnesses numbered 16 to 90 included several eyewitnesses, some of whom are public servants.
It is to be noted that on July 22, the Supreme Court had granted bail to Mishra with restrictions on his movement in Delhi and Lucknow in a case registered over the Lakhimpur Kheri violence of October 3, 2021. The Lakhimpur Kheri violence on October 3, 2021, claimed eight lives, including four farmers, who were mowed down by a vehicle during protests against Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya’s visit. The incident also saw the alleged lynching of a driver and two BJP workers, along with the death of a journalist.
Earlier in 2024, the Court had extended the interim bail granted by the Apex Court a year back. The Court had then noted that since September 2023, no Report had been received from the Trial Court on the progress of the case.
In December 2023, the trial court framed charges of murder, criminal conspiracy, and other penal offences against Mishra and 12 others, paving the way for the trial in the farmers’ deaths case.
In December 2022, the Supreme Court had directed the Registrar (Judicial) to enquire about the expected time it will take to complete the trial from the first additional sessions judge at Lakhimpur Kheri. The State of Uttar Pradesh had also been directed to file an additional affidavit stipulating the pace of the investigation in the case. The Bench had also contemplated on the need to balance the rights of the accused persons behind the Lakhimpur Kheri incident with those of the victims and witnesses.
Ashish Mishra is one of the 13 accused persons who have been held for murder, criminal conspiracy and certain other offences in the violence case. The Supreme Court had issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh Government on Ashish’s bail plea on September 6, 2022 and had asked the Uttar Pradesh Government to respond to his petition seeking bail, in which he had challenged the denial of bail to him by Allahabad High Court on July 26.
On April 18, 2022 the Supreme Court cancelled the bail given to Ashish Mishra by the Allahabad High Court. Earlier, the bail pleas of Mishra and two others had been rejected by the Lakhimpur Kheri District and Sessions court on November 15, 2021.
Case Title: Ashish Mishra alias Monu v. State of Uttar Pradesh
Hearing Date: December 11, 2025
Bench: CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi