On Wednesday, the Supreme Court told the UP Govt that the Judge monitoring the Lakhimpur violence case probe had recommended the cancellation of bail granted to Ashish Mishra & sought its response in the matter.

A bench headed by CJI NV Ramana & comprising Justice Surya Kant & Justice Hima Kohli queried the UP Govt lawyer, "It appears from the report of the monitoring judge that he recommended cancellation of bail. What's your stand?"

The bench pointed out that the SIT had 2 written letters to the additional chief secretary, home, Uttar Pradesh. Senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, representing the Uttar Pradesh government, submitted he had no idea about the letters & sought some time to take instructions in the matter. The Chief Justice said the monitoring judge has recommended that bail granted to Mishra must be challenged. Jethmalani sought five minutes to come up with a response in the matter.

Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, representing the victims' families, submitted that the top court should either stay the high court order or cancel the bail granted to Mishra. Dave said, "the high court order suffers from complete non-application of mind".

Jethmalani said he has spoken with the additional home secretary & he has not received the letters from the judge monitoring the probe. The bench said the copy of the judge's letters should be supplied to the state government. Jethmalani requested the bench to keep the next hearing on the matter on Monday. The bench replied it's been for more than a month & the matter couldn't be taken up.

The next date of hearing is April 4.

In November last year, the Supreme Court-appointed Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain, a retired Judge of the Punjab & Haryana HC, to monitor the Lakhimpur Kheri violence probe. The top court also reconstituted the SIT investigating the incident & appointed IPS officer SB Shiradkar, as its head.

Ashish Mishra was arrested on Oct 9, 2021, in the case. On Oct 3, 2021, 8 people, including four farmers, were killed in Lakhimpur Kheri in clashes during a farmers' protest.

The UP Govt has told the Top Court that a decision on filing a plea challenging the bail granted to Ashish Mishra in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case "is pending consideration before the relevant authorities".

Refuting the allegations that it didn't oppose bail granted to Mishra by the Allahabad High Court in February this year, the Uttar Pradesh government, in a counter-affidavit, said that Mishra's bail application was vehemently opposed by it & any averments to the contrary in the special leave petition (SLP), filed by the family members of victims, are completely false & merit to be rejected. 

The affidavit said, "Furthermore, the Impugned Order being of 10.02.2022, the limitation period against the same is still running, & the decision to file SLP against the same, is pending consideration before the relevant authorities".

The family members of the farmers, mowed down by a car belonging to Mishra, in Lakhimpur Kheri had moved the top court challenging bail granted to him. He is the son of Union Minister & BJP MP Ajay Kumar Mishra. The victims' families have claimed that the state has not filed an appeal opposing bail granted to Mishra.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the LatestLaws staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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