The Supreme Court
on Monday extended the interim bail granted to Union minister Ajay Kumar
Mishra's son Ashish Mishra in the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence which claimed
eight lives.
A bench of
Justices Surya Kant and K V Viswanathan directed the apex court registry to
obtain a report from the trial court on the progress of the case and adjourned
the matter.
On September 26
last year, the top court had relaxed the bail conditions of Mishra to enable
him to visit and stay in the National Capital Region (NCR) to look after his
ailing mother and for the treatment of his daughter.
The case pertains
to an incident of violence on October 3, 2021, in which eight people, including
four farmers, were killed in Tikunia in Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar
Pradesh.
The apex court
had relaxed the interim bail conditions imposed on Mishra by the trial court on
January 25. Mishra was asked not to stay either in Uttar Pradesh or in Delhi
during the period.
The court had
passed the order on a modification application filed by Mishra which stated
that his mother was admitted to the Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital in Delhi.
He had further
said in the application that his daughter needed treatment for certain
deformities in her legs.
The top court
bench had allowed the application on humanitarian ground, but said Mishra
should not participate in any public function in Delhi and address the media
with regard to the case, which is sub-judice.
It had also
clarified that the prohibition on entering Uttar Pradesh except for attending
the trial, the condition imposed by the order dated January 25, will continue
to operate.
On September 18,
the top court relieved the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed in
connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri case, saying it has completed its probe and
submitted a charge sheet in the trial court.
It had said if
any necessity to reconstitute the SIT arises, an appropriate order shall be
passed.
The apex court
had appointed Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain, a former judge of the Punjab and
Haryana High Court, to supervise the Uttar Pradesh Police SIT's probe into the
case on a day-to-day basis.
Three senior
Indian Police Service (IPS) officers -- S B Shirodkar, Deepinder Singh and
Padmaja Chauhan -- were part of the SIT.
The top court
had, on July 11, extended Mishra's interim bail.
The violence had
erupted when farmers were protesting against Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister
Keshav Prasad Maurya's visit to the area.
Four farmers were
mowed down by a sports utility vehicle (SUV). A driver and two Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) workers were then allegedly lynched by angry farmers. A journalist
also died in the violence that triggered outrage among opposition parties and
the farmer groups agitating over the Centre's now-repealed agriculture laws.
On January 25,
the top court granted interim bail to Mishra in the "unfortunate ghastly
incident" of violence in 2021 at Lakhimpur Kheri, which claimed eight
lives, and directed him to leave Uttar Pradesh within a week of his release
from jail.
On December 6
last year, the trial court had framed charges against Mishra and 12 others for
the alleged offences of murder, criminal conspiracy and under other penal laws
in the case of the farmers' deaths, paving the way for the trial to start