[Lakhimpur Kheri] All witnesses given adequate security; petitioner conflating issues: Uttar Pradesh to Supreme Court

The State of Uttar Pradesh has told the Supreme Court that all 98 witnesses in the Lakhimpur Kheri case have been given adequate security, and that the petitioner was attempting to conflate issues..In an affidavit filed through Standing Counsel Ruchira Goel, the State government also denied the contention made in the pending case before the Supreme Court that the State did not adequately oppose the bail application of prime accused in the case, Ashish Mishra, son of Union Home Minister of State Ajay Mishra Teni.The State submitted that even in the counter-affidavit filed before the High Court, it had 'vehemently' opposed the bail, as was noted in its order. .After the Allahabad High Court granted bail to Mishra in the case, the family members of the deceased had approached the Supreme Court in appeal, seeking cancellation of the bail. The State of Uttar Pradesh is yet to file an appeal against the High Court verdict..Earlier this month, advocate Prashant Bhushan had mentioned the matter before a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, claiming that one of the witnesses in the Lakhimpur Kheri case in was attacked. The Court had then issued notice to the State and directed it to file a response and to ensure that witnesses were protected..The affidavit filed by the State specifically denies that the attack on one of the witnesses of the Lakhimpur Kheri incident was motivated by and connected with the release of Mishra on bail.As per the UP Police's investigation, the incident of a witness being beaten up was not related to the main case."...in the Application for Additional Documents filed by the Petitioners, an incident of 10.03.2022, (wherein one of the witnesses in Case Crime 219/2021 was beaten by some miscreants, resulting in the registration of Case Crime No. 46/2022) is sought to be conflated and connected with the farmer deaths of 03.10.2021 (the subject matter of Case Crime No.219/202 I, in which Respondent No. I is the main accused). In this regard, it is submitted that the investigation of said incident of 10.03.2022 and Case Crime No. 46/2022has revealed that the same is not related at all to the FIRs pertaining to the 03.10.2021 incident," the affidavit stated..As regards the fact that the State has not filed an appeal against the High Court order, the affidavit stated,"Furthermore, the Impugned Order being of 10.02.2022, the limitation period against the same is still running, and the decision to file SLP against the same, is pending consideration before the relevant authorities.".Security detail of witnesses as per Court orders.Each of the 98 witnesses have one armed police gunner, while the families of the victims have one armed gunner each along with a permanent security guard and continuous monitoring through installed CCTV cameras, as well as barrier duty at their residences, the document stated. 79 of the witnesses are from Kheri district, 17 from outlying districts and 2 from Uttarakhand, it was revealed..Highlighting that the State has taken all efforts to ensure the safety of the witnesses, the affidavit stated,"All the witnesses are also regularly contacted by the police for appraisal of their security conditions. The witnesses were interviewed telephonically most recently on 20.03.2022 and expressed satisfaction with the security provided to them and were informed that if they required any help in relation to their security, they should immediately contact the Superintendent of Police of their respective districts and would receive prompt assistance.".On October 3 last year, eight people were killed in Lakhimpur Kheri during violence that erupted when farmers were protesting against the now revoked farm laws. The protesters had impeded the visit of Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, who was planning to attend an event in the area. A four-wheeler belonging to Mishra then allegedly mowed down and killed eight persons, including the protesting farmers.After Mishra's arrest, the Uttar Pradesh Police's special investigation team (SIT) filed a 5,000-page chargesheet before a local court, naming him as the prime accused in the case. In November, a trial court had rejected his application for bail, prompting Mishra to move the High Court.Justice Rajeev Singh of the Allahabad High Court then granted bail to Mishra on February 10, stating that there might have been a possibility that the driver of the vehicle that mowed down the protesting farmers sped up the vehicle to save himself..The Uttar Pradesh government did not file an appeal against the bail order, prompting the family members to move the top court. Appearing for the petitioners, Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave had submitted that the High Court order was misdirected on the principles of grant of bail, especially considering the trial court refused bail."It has to be seen what was the influence when there was enough material on record to pin him down in the chargesheet.".On the merits of the order, the special leave petition said that the High Court did not consider the overwhelming evidence against Mishra while granting bail, since the chargesheet against him was not brought on record.It was submitted that the High Court granted bail without considering the heinous nature of the crime, the character of the overwhelming evidence against the accused in the chargesheet, the position and status of the accused with reference to the victims and witnesses, the likelihood of the accused fleeing from justice and repeating the offence and the possibility of his tampering with witnesses and obstructing the course of justice.The plea stated that victims were prevented from bringing the relevant material to the notice of High Court as their counsel got disconnected from the hearing of the bail matter on January 18.The counsel could barely make any submissions and repeated calls to the court staff to get reconnected were to no avail. Thus, the application filed by the victims before the High Court for an effective re-hearing was also rejected, the plea said..[Lakhimpur Kheri] Supreme Court issues notice in plea challenging bail granted to Ashish Mishra

[Lakhimpur Kheri] All witnesses given adequate security; petitioner conflating issues: Uttar Pradesh to Supreme Court

Debayan Roy

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