The top court ruled within the Lakhimpur-Kheri case that the Allahabad judicature order is predicated on "irrelevant observations".
Bail granted to Union Minister Ajay Mishra Teni's son Ashish Mishra, who is accused of murdering farmers in Uttar Pradesh last year, was cancelled by the Supreme Court today. He has been ordered to surrender during a week.
Ashish Mishra was granted bail by the Allahabad supreme court on February 10, within the middle of the campaign for the Uttar Pradesh election. His father Ajay Mishra, the Union Minister of State for Home and a strong BJP leader in Uttar Pradesh, started his election campaign soon after.
The reprieve to Ashish Mishra was challenged by the families of farmers who were killed on October 3 at Lakhimpur Kheri in UP.
The judicature order relies on "irrelevant observations" and "overlooked relevant considerations", the Supreme Court ruled.
"The victim has unbridled participatory right in such a criminal trial process," Justice Surya Kant said in sharp words while announcing the choice.
"We hold that the victims are denied the possibility of effective hearing. The denial of victims to be heard and therefore the tearing hurry shown by the state supreme court merits the setting aside of the bail order," the judge said.
When asked to direct a distinct tribunal judge to listen to the case, the Supreme Court said it'd not be proper to pass such an order. "We are sure that the identical judge wouldn't want to listen to the matter again," said the judges.
Ashish Mishra is accused of running over four farmers and a journalist during a protest at Lakhimpur Kheri against three controversial farm laws. He was arrested several days later, amid outrage over the UP police and administration's slow response.
In a petition before the Supreme Court, the farmers' families said Ashish Mishra's bail must be cancelled as he's a threat to witnesses. A witness was attacked in March and attackers had issued threats citing the BJP's victory within the recent UP election, they alleged.
But the UP government displayed a two-way stand, calling it a "grave offence" yet asserting that Ashish Mishra is "not a flight risk".
"The offence is grave. Whether or not crime was with deliberate intent can only be examined at trial stage. Intention of offence may be a nuanced matter, may be discussed only at trial stage," said the state's lawyer, Mahesh Jethmalani.
The Uttar Pradesh government also stressed that witnesses had been given security so there could really be "no tampering".
Uttar Pradeep govt also informed the top court that Ashish Mishra is not a regular offender. "If he had been a regular criminal, bail should not be given," said the authorities.
Granting bail to Ashish Mishra, the supreme court had raised questions on a number of the charges listed within the FIR (First Information Report) by the police, including firing at protesters.
The court noted that"Taking the facts and circumstances into consideration of the issue incase, it is very clear that as per the First Incident Report, the cause of firing was assigned to the applicant (Ashish Mishra) for death of the protesters, but at the time of the course of probe, no such firearm injuries were found either on the body of any of the deceased or on the body of any injured person"
The top court mentioned that any “First Incident Report can’t be treated as an encyclopaedia of incidents”.
8 people were killed in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident on last year’s 3rd October. After that 5 civilians were crushed by the Central minister's vehicles and 3 more, including BJP party members, got killed in violence that happened after.