From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: A Supreme Court Bench, headed by Chief Justice of India N V Ramana, on Friday fixed a hearing on March 11 on an appeal against the Allahabad High Court’s bail last month to Ashish Mishra, son of a union minister for home, by the family members of the deceased farmers mowed down by his car in Lakhimpur Kheri of Uttar Pradesh on October 3 last year.
The appeal was mentioned by advocate Prashant Bhushan for early hearing, pointing out that Ashish is the prime accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence, in which eight people were killed and the families had to move the top court since the Uttar Pradesh government failed to appeal against the bail granted by the High Court.
Bhushan informed the Court that other accused persons were seeking bail based on this order, and thus urgent listing of the case was sought and pleaded that the High Court be restrained from granting bail to others, based on this order.
The Court was also asked to observe that the High Court could not grant bail to others based on this order.
The Bench, in this regard, asked the appellant to file a memo before the High Court.
“You file a memo before the High Court. We will list on March 11 as the judge hearing with me is available then,” CJI Ramana said.
After he was arrested, the Uttar Pradesh Police’s special investigation team (SIT) filed a 5,000-page chargesheet before a local court, naming Mishra as prime accused in the case. In November, a trial court had rejected his application for bail, prompting Mishra to move the High Court.
Single-judge Justice Rajeev Singh of the Allahabad High Court had granted bail to Mishra on February 10, stating that there might be a possibility that the driver of the vehicle that mowed down the protesting farmers sped up the vehicle to save himself.
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