News Analysis India

Tag: Lakhimpur Kheri case

  • Lakhimpur violence case: HC judge recuses himself from hearing Ashish Mishra’s bail plea afresh

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: Justice Rajeev Singh of the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court on Wednesday recused himself from hearing the bail plea of Ashish Mishra, key accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case. The matter would next be listed after the nomination of a new judge for hearing the plea.

    Ashish Mishra, son of MoS Ajai Mishra Teni, is facing a case of murder which he is accused of committing during a farmers’ protest that had turned violent in Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3, 2021. In the incident, Mishra had allegedly ploughed his SUV into the crowd of protesting farmers crushing four of them to death on the spot.

    The High Court bench, comprising Justice Rajeev Singh, had granted bail to Ashish Mishra on February 10, 2022. Thereafter, the HC order granting bail to Mishra was challenged in the Supreme Court of India after an SLP was filed by the relatives of the deceased farmers.

    On April 18, the apex court had set aside the Allahabad HC order granting bail to Mishra and asked the accused to surrender within a week. The SC had even admonished the High Court for granting the bail to Mishra taking into account irrelevant considerations and denying the right of hearing to the victim. Cancelling the bail granted to Ashish Mishra, the apex court sent back his bail application to the High Court for a fresh decision on merits after affording the right of hearing to the victim.

    Following the order of the apex court, Mishra surrendered on April 24 and was sent to jail. Accordingly, the bail petition was listed before the Lucknow Bench of the High Court on Wednesday. As it came up before Justice Rajeev Singh, who had earlier allowed Ashish’s plea, he recused himself from hearing and directed the office to lay the file before the Chief Justice for a fresh nomination of judge.

  • Samajwadi Party​ chief Akhilesh Yadav slams BJP over pace of probe in Lakhimpur Kheri case

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday hit out at the BJP over the Supreme Court’s observations on the probe into the Lakhimpur Kheri case, charging that the saffron party decides whom to implicate and where to take the investigation.

    He also charged that the BJP’s three engines — Delhi engine, Lucknow engine and Lakhimpur engine — are destroying law and order in Uttar Pradesh.

    The Supreme Court on Monday suggested that a former judge of a “different high court” should monitor the Uttar Pradesh SIT probe on day-to-day basis in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case to infuse “independence, impartiality and fairness”, saying the investigation was not going the way it expected Yadav said there is no hope of justice in the Lakhimpur case till the BJP is in power in the state

    “The Supreme Court is saying that efforts are being made to save the accused in the Lakhimpur case. The courts have raised questions on the law and order of the state many times in the past. Why is the government not accepting the matter of monitoring of probe? We are already saying that as long as the BJP is in government here, there is no hope of justice in this case,” he told a press conference.

    “Three engines of BJP are destroying law and order. First is the Delhi engine, then the Lucknow engine and Lakhimpur engine,” Yadav said while pointing fingers at the Centre, State and Union Minister of state Ajay Mishra whose son Ashish Mishra is named as an accused in the case.

    “The Minister of State for Home (Ajay Mishra), whose son was arrested in this case, has not been sacked yet,” the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said, adding that the Supreme Court has raised questions on the SIT.

    “BJP decides whom to implicate, whom to follow, where to take the investigation. When will the SIT finally itself be probed?,” he said.

    Four farmers were mowed down by an SUV in the convoy at Lakhimpur Kheri when a group agitating against the Centre’s three new farm laws was holding a demonstration against the visit of Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on October 3.

    Two BJP workers and a driver were beaten to death allegedly by the angry protesters, and a local journalist was killed in the violence Regarding Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s allegation of patronising of crime and criminals in the previous SP government, the SP chief said, “Which chief minister is speaking this after all. He should tell what sections were imposed on him, which he himself withdrew after becoming the CM.”

    Referring to the demonetisation carried out by the BJP government at the Centre in November 2016, Yadav said that despite so many years of this decision, the BJP was not telling what benefits it has given “What was called a masterstroke turned out to be a brain stroke. It was done deliberately to harass the public,” he alleged.

    Yadav said after demonetisation, the assurance was given that black money stashed in foreign banks will be bought back. “There was talk of ending corruption but corruption has increased on a large-scale. BJP’s wrong policies are responsible for the plight of the economy,” he said.

    Alleging that a large number of youths, traders and farmers have committed suicide due to demonetisation, he said, “Does the government have any answer for this? This government did demonetisation to benefit big people. Today more cash has come in the market than it was in circulation earlier. BJP is master in doing propaganda.”

    Referring to Rakesh Pratap Singh, two-time MLA from Gauriganj seat, who is on a fast to protest against non-construction of two roads in his constituency, Yadav said, “One of our MLAs is on dharna. There is an appeal to him that to end the hunger strike against the ‘deaf and blind’ government. I appeal you to end the dharna and get healthy and fight with this government.”

    He said that Leader of the Opposition Ram Govind Choudhary would visit Singh and persuade him to end his fast. Singh, who was fasting to death in the capital, was forcibly admitted to Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Hospital by the police on Friday after his health deteriorated.

    During the press conference, birthday of a boy, who was born in a bank queue in Kanpur after demonetisation, was celebrated with party leaders giving him gifts.