Lakhimpur Kheri violence: Court frames charges against Union Minister’s son Ashish Mishra and 13 others

Mishra is the prime accused in the case, and he has been accused of running over and killing four farmers and a journalist in Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3, 2021.

Lakhimpur Kheri: A court on Tuesday framed charges against Union Minister Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish Mishra and 13 others in connection to the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case.

Mishra is the prime accused in the case, and he has been accused of running over and killing four farmers and a journalist in Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3, 2021.

“Additional District Judge Sunil Kumar Verma has fixed December 16 as the next date for the trials to begin,” District Government Counsel Arvind Tripathi told ANI.

“The court charged the 14 accused, including Ashish Mishra, with IPC sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting with deadly weapons), 149 (committing an offence with a common intention), 326 (dismemberment), 307 (murderous assault), 302 (Murder), 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 427 (causing damage to property) and found sufficient grounds for framing of charges under section 177 (punishment for violation of Motor Vehicles Act) of the Motor Vehicles Act,” said Tripathi.

Mishra is facing a case of murder for the incident on October 3, 2021, in which eight people, including four farmers, were killed in Lakhimpur Kheri.

As per the reports, he had allegedly run over the farmers who were protesting against the three farm Laws passed by the Centre. Mishra was arrested on October 9 and was granted bail in February this year.

Mishra, then moved High Court as the Court’s earlier order was set aside by the Supreme Court in April 2022 and had ordered fresh consideration of his bail plea.

The top court earlier had set aside the Allahabad High Court order dated February 10, 2022, and remitted the matter back to the High Court. It also said that the order of the Allahabad High Court cannot be sustained and had to be set aside and the bail bonds of the respondent/accused were cancelled.

The Court had further directed Ashish Mishra to surrender within a week. Meanwhile, the family members of the victims of the Lakhimpur Kheri incident moved the Supreme Court challenging the Allahabad High Court order, which granted bail to Ashish Mishra.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had appointed a committee headed by retired Punjab and Haryana High Court judge Rakesh Kumar Jain to monitor the probe into the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.

Apart from Mishra, Sumit Jaiswal, Ankit Das, Latif alias Kale, Satyam Tripathi, Nandan Singh Bisht, and others were also booked and arrested in connection to the incident.