The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to relax the bail conditions of Ashish Mishra, the prime accused in the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence case. Ashish is the son of former Union minister Ajay Mishra.

In this 2022 file photo, Ashish Mishra, main accused in the 2021 Lakhimpur case, being produced in a local court in Lakhimpur. (HT file photo)

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant took up the application seeking modification of the court’s January 2023 bail order and said, “We find no ground to entertain this prayer. The application is dismissed.”

Mishra’s lawyer said that the restriction has prevented him from spending time with his family, attending the birthday celebrations of his daughter and attending to his family needs.

The court said that relaxations have been given, when asked, allowing him to spend time with his family in Lakhimpur during festival days for a specific period. After the expiry of the said duration, he was required to go back to Lucknow in terms of the court’s order.

The prayer for seeking relaxation of the bail condition comes within a month after the state had cleared Mishra’s name from an allegation that he violated the bail condition as his alleged associate tried to threaten one of the witnesses.

The state probed the matter and submitted a final investigation report before the trial court which found no evidence to link the lone accused with either Mishra or his father Ajay Mishra. The bail condition required that Mishra or his family will not influence witnesses either directly or indirectly.

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Advocate Prashant Bhushan appearing for the victims told the court that the state has dropped critical witnesses in the case who are eyewitnesses and he is gathering documents to file an application before this court. The bench told Bhushan to approach the trial court.

“The trial judge is the best person to determine why those witnesses are crucial. You should first approach the trial court”, the bench said.

The UP government told the court that the trial in the main case is progressing at a steady pace as only 51 out of 131 witnesses remain to be examined.

On October 3, 2021, eight people, including four farmers, were killed in Tikunia in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri district during a protest by farmers in the area.

According to the police charge sheet, the killings were pre-planned as Mishra arrived in an SUV along with a convoy of 3-4 vehicles at the site where the farmers were protesting. Infuriated by this act, protesting farmers pulled out three occupants from the car and lynched them.

A separate criminal case in this regard was registered by police against four farmers who are also out on bail.