The Supreme Court on Wednesday took ‘serious’ note of the alleged brutal attack on one of the prime witnesses in a case of farmers’ killing reported in Lakhimpur Kheri last year. The bench directed the Uttar Pradesh government to take adequate steps to protect the witnesses. The order came after Allahabad high court granted bail to accused Ashish Mishra, son of Union minister Ajay Mishra ‘Teni’.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan had on Tuesday told the apex court that one of the prime witnesses was brutally attacked and was told that, he will be taken care of now that BJP has won the State elections.
“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 petition stated.
The matter was listed before the court after an urgent listing of the case was sought by Bhushan. While considering the overall facts of the case, the court observed that it cannot shut its eyes to the killing of three persons sitting in the Thar vehicle, including the driver, who were killed by the protesters.
Since Ashish Mishra was granted bail ahead of the politically crucial Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, opposition parties had criticized the move saying it was aimed at leveraging “Brahmin votes”.
On Monday, Ajay Mishra Teni cited “good law and order situation” in the state as the reason for the BJP’s win in the assembly polls. The ruling party had won all eight seats in Lakhimpur.
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