lakhimpur Kheri case
Lakhimpur Kheri case: After bail to Ashish Mishra, farmer who lost son says 'no hope now'
Lucknow/IBNS: After the Allahabad High Court on Thursday granted bail to Union Minister Ajay Mishra's son Ashish in the Lakhimpur Kheri murder case, the farmer who lost his son in the incident said he lost all hope.
The Allahabad High Court in Uttar Pradesh granted Ashish bail earlier in the day, pointing out the discrepancies in the case against him.
The order has become controversial especially amid the ongoing assembly election in UP, where the ruling BJP is seeking a second term in power.
Sukhwinder Singh, the father of 19-year-old Gurvinder Singh who was mowed down by Ashish Mishra's car on Oct 3 last year, told media persons: "His getting bail so soon is not a good sign."
"We did not have any hopes earlier with this government. We don't have any hope now... Ajay Mishra Teni is still not removed," he added.
Despite pressing demands from farmers, the government refused to remove Ajay Mishra as the junior home minister, stating that the matter is under investigation.
"Modi ji sits there and gives one jumla (political promise) after the other. But he cannot even remove his own minister," Sukhwinder Singh said.
Ashish Mishra, son of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra, is the prime accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence which occurred on Oct 3.
He was arrested on Oct 9, six days after four farmers, protesting against Centre's three controversial farm laws, were killed along with a journalist and three others after being mowed down by an SUV.
The SUV was said to be part of a convoy of Union Minister of State for Home Affairs and BJP MP Ajay Kumar Mishra.
In its bail order Thursday, the Allahabad High Court questioned some of the charges against him, including firing at protesters.
"Considering the facts and circumstances of the case in toto, it is evident that as per the FIR, the role of firing was assigned to the applicant (Ashish Mishra) for killing the protesters, but during the course of the investigation, no such firearm injuries were found either on the body of any of the deceased or on the body of any injured person," the court said.
The judges said Ashish Mishra is accused of inciting the SUV driver to run over farmers. "Thereafter, the prosecution alleged that the applicant (Ashish Mishra) provoked the driver of the vehicle for crushing the protesters, however, the driver along with two others, who were in the vehicle, had been killed by the protesters."
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Jan 3 filed a chargesheet in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence naming Ashish Mishra as the prime accused.
Earlier in an interview with news agency ANI on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke his silence on the issue for the first time.
"The state government gave its consent for whatever committee Supreme Court wanted to form, for whichever judge Supreme Court wanted for the probe. The state government is working transparently," he had said.
After the court order granting bail to Ashish, Aman Kashyap, the brother of Raman Kashyap, the journalist who was also killed along with four farmers, said a bail to an accused is not equivalent to an acquittal.
"We will continue to fight... just because he has got bail does not mean the case has ended," Kashyap told journalists.
A second chargesheet has been filed in the case, accusing several farmers of murder.
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