Lakhimpur Kheri case: No relief for Ashish Mishra, next bail plea hearing on 8 July

Lucknow: The Allahabad High Court on Monday posted to 8 July the hearing on the bail plea of Union Minister Ajay Kumar Mishra’s son Ashish Mishra, arrested in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri violence that claimed eight lives in October last year. In the course of hearing on the bail plea in the court of Justice Krishan Pahal of the Lucknow bench of the high court on Monday, it was pleaded on behalf of the complainant in the matter that the bail application of Ashish Mishra was not maintainable. It was argued that the bail application has been filed in the high court even though Ashish Mishra’s bail has not been rejected by a sessions court for sections added in the FIR during the course of the investigation. Ashish Mishra’s counsel, however, argued that it was not necessary to have his bail plea rejected by a lower court for the added sections. Due to paucity of time, the court fixed 8 July as the next date of hearing. Four farmers and a journalist were mowed down by vehicles allegedly carrying BJP workers in Lakhimpur Kheri on 3 October last year during a protest over then Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya’s visit to the area. In the violence that followed, three people, including two BJP workers, were lynched by an angry crowd. On 18 April, the Supreme Court cancelled the bail granted to Ashish Mishra and asked him to surrender in a week, saying the victims were denied a fair and effective hearing in the Allahabad High Court, which adopted a myopic view of the evidence. The apex court had held that the high court took into account irrelevant considerations and gave extra weightage to the contents of the FIR. The high court had on 10 February granted bail to Ashish Mishra who had spent four months in custody. Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.