Ashish Mishra, Union Minister Ajay Mishra's son who is accused of running over farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri, is "not a flight risk", the Uttar Pradesh government told the Supreme Court today.
The Uttar Pradesh government, represented by Mahesh Jethmalani, was responding to a petition by families of the farmers killed in the October 3, 2021 violence, challenging the bail granted to Mishra by the Allahabad High Court.
Asserting that the offence is "grave", the state government told the court that "no words are enough" to condemn it. It also argued that it had "vehemently" opposed the bail in the high court.
However, Ashish Mishra is not a flight risk and security has been provided to the witnesses to ensure there is no tampering, the Uttar Pradesh government submitted.
Granting bail to Mishra in February, the high court had raised questions about some of the charges listed by the police, 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 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 had said.
