Supreme Court allows Ashish Mishra to visit Lakhimpur Kheri every Saturday to spend time with family

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed Ashish Mishra, son of former Union Minister, Ajay Mishra, the prime accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri case, to visit Lakhimpur Kheri every Saturday evening to spend time with family, subject to the condition that he should return to Lucknow Sunday evening.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Justice N Kotiswar Singh modified the bail conditions imposed on Mishra. In the earlier bail conditions, Mishra could not enter Lakhimpur Kheri except for attending the trial. 

The court made it clear that Mishra will not participate in any public meeting or in political activities during the period of his visit.

"While staying at Lakhimpur Kheri, the petitioner shall not participate in any public meeting or in political activities. Such visits will only be private to spend time with family members," the bench said.

Senior advocate Siddharth Dave, for Mishra submitted that his client has not seen his daughters for four years. He asked the court to relax the bail conditions, as he is very keen to spend some time with his family members.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, for some of the victims, contended that in September 2023, the court had already permitted him to look after his mother and get his daughter operated in New Delhi .

"I am the only one, on whom this condition has been imposed (of being outside Lakhimpur). Bhushan's side of accused persons who are facing prosecution are also in Lakhimpur and other co-accused are also in Lakhimpur," Dave said. 

The counsel asked the bench to extend the concession and to allow his client to spend 10-12 days in a month with his family.

"Summer vacations are coming, he needs to spend some time with the daughters," he said.

The bench suggested that Mishra can call his children to Lucknow. However, the counsel said that Lakhimpur Kheri has better climate and Lucknow is more than 200 Kms away from Lakhimpur.

The Uttar Pradesh government counsel informed the bench that 16 witnesses, including 10 injured witnesses, out of 208 have been examined. The state’s counsel said that the prosecutor was ascertaining if the number of formal witnesses can be reduced.

The bench noted that all injured persons are important witnesses. Bhushan stressed that the case pertained to the accused running a vehicle over the protesting farmers. "The accused ran over the farmers and didn't stop the vehicle," he said.

On this, Dave contended this should be left to the prosecutor as Bhushan's client has no role in the trial.

The bench, however, said, even victims have certain rights in the trial and they cannot be expected to be idle spectators.

While granting bail to Mishra, the court had restricted his movement to Delhi or Lucknow. On October 3, 2021, eight people, including four farmers, were killed in Tikunia in Lakhimpur Kheri district during a protest by farmers against Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya's visit to the area.