SC To Hear Plea Challenging Allahabad HC's Granting Bail To Ashish Mishra

The Supreme Court on Friday decided to set March 11 to hear plea challenging Allahabad High Court order that had granted bail to prime accused Ashish Mishra in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident.

An urgent hearing before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) N V Ramana on the appeal against Allahabad High Court’s decision to grant bail to Ashish Mishra, son of Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Mishra Teni, was sought by advocate Prashant Bhushan.

Bhushan apprised the Court that others accused in the case were moving bail pleas on the ground of parity to the relief granted to Ashish Mishra. The apex court agreed to hear it, reported ANI.

The family members of the victims of Lakhimpur Kheri incident had challenged the Allahabad HC’s order dated February 10, 2022, before the Supreme Court. The petition was filed through advocate Bhushan.

The Allahabad HC’s order was “unsustainable in law”, challenged the petitioner. They were compelled to approach the SC as the state of Uttar Pradesh failed to prefer any appeal against the impugned order.

The petition read, “The lack of any discussion in the High Court's order as regards the settled principles for grant of bail is on account of lack of any substantive submissions to this effect by the state as the accused wields substantial influence over the State government as his father is a Union Minister from the same political party that rules the state.”

"The impugned order is unsustainable in eyes of law as there has been no meaningful and effective assistance by the state to the court in the matter contrary to the object of the first Provison to Section 439 of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, which provides that in grave offences notice of bail application should ordinarily be given to the Public Prosecutor," the petitioner added.

The petition said that the victims were prevented from putting forward relevant material as regards the settled principles for grant of bail notice of High Court as their counsel got disconnected from the hearing on January 18. Repeated calls to court staff to get reconnected went in vain.

"Contrary to settled law, the High Court failed to form its opinion on the basis of the chargesheet on broad probabilities and has instead gone on the basis of far-fetched imaginary possibilities,” it said.

The heinous nature of the crime was overlooked by the Allahabad HC, the petition said, adding that the likelihood of the accused fleeing from justice and repeating the offence was high with possibility of tampering with witnesses and obstructing the course of justice.

After the Allahabad HC’s order granting bail to Mishra, he was released from jail last month. He was the prime accused in the case that happened on October 3, 2021 in Lakhimpur Kheri in which eight people including four farmers had died.