Lakhimpur Kheri Violence: Allahabad HC grants bail to person on Possibility that driver tried to speed up vehicle to save himself
The Allahabad High Court granted bail to the person on Possibility that the driver tried to speed up the vehicle to save himself.
Background
As per the prosecution case, the applicant, who was in his Thar Mahindra vehicle followed by two other vehicles, came to the place of incident at high speed and killed the farmers by making indiscriminate firing.
Arguments
Advocate Gopal Chaturvedi, appearing for the applicant, contended that the applicant has falsely been implicated in the present case. He said that in the ancestral village of the applicant, i.e., Banveerpur, a wrestling competition was being organised since long back and in the same tradition, on 3rd October, 2021, a wrestling competition was scheduled with a public meeting, in which, Deputy Chief Minister Mr. Keshav Prasad Maurya was the Chief Guest.
He argued that in the name of farmers, some leaders of opposition parties, in association with anti social elements, decided to protest the visit of the Chief Guest in village Banveerpur.
He added that the applicant that on being chased by the protesters, the driver of the vehicles tried to go away from there in order to save themselves, but the road was only 12 ft. widen and admittedly (in the F.I.R. itself) the protesters were standing on both sides of the road, due to which, the vehicles overturned into the ditch aside the road.
Advocate Shashank Singh, appearing for the complainant, while supporting the arguments of the A.A.G., contended that the applicant deliberately came to the place of protesters with the vehicle only with the intention to give lessons to them as due to their protest at the helipad, District Administration was compelled to change the route of the Chief Guest.
Court Order
The single judge bench of Justice Rajeev Singh noted that the role of firing was assigned to the applicant 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 said that it cannot shut its eyes to the killing of three persons sitting in the Thar vehicle, including the driver, who were killed by the protesters. The photograph available in the case diary clearly reveals the brutality of the protesters, those who were beating the said three persons, namely, Hariom Mishra, Shubham Mishra and Shyam Sunder.
The court while granting the bail to the accused said that any violation of bail conditions will be treated as misuse of bail and the lower court will be at liberty to pass appropriate order in the matter regarding cancellation of bail.
The court further directed the Chief Secretary of the State of U.P. to issue necessary direction and guidelines for regulating such types of assemblies and procession in order to avoid the inconvenience caused to the citizens on account of such types of assemblies.
Case title: Ashish Mishra @ Monu v/s State of U.P.
Citation: CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. – 13762 of 2021
