A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana on Monday reserved order on a plea seeking cancellation of bail of Ashish Mishra, son of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra Teni and accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case. Advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government, argued against the appeal, saying, “There cannot be a mini trial at this stage. Words are not enough to describe what happened. As far as tampering of evidence is concerned, we have provided security. Can he run? It’s not like this.
At the same time, senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for the petitioners, said in the court that the Allahabad High Court’s decision granting bail to Ashish Mishra should be quashed. Referring to an incident of alleged attack on a witness earlier this month, he read out an FIR that read, “Ab BJP satte hai, dekh tera kya hal hoga” and then asked if it was not a serious matter.
In fact, after Holi, a witness was allegedly attacked, after which the relatives of the witness filed a petition in the Supreme Court and demanded that the bail of Ashish Mishra be canceled. Hearing this petition, the Chief Justice’s bench had sought a response from the UP government and also directed to ensure the safety of the witnesses.
The UP government, in its reply, had said, “The attack took place due to a personal dispute between the witnesses over the throwing of colors on Holi. Security is being continuously provided to all the victims and the families of the witnesses. Armed gunners have been provided to the witnesses by the government. Regular security assessments are conducted for the witnesses. Witnesses have also expressed satisfaction about the security arrangements.”