Lakhimpur Kheri Violence: SC extends Union minister's son's bail

New Delhi: In the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence, linked to the farmer's protest that year, Union minister Ajay Kumar Mishra's son Ashish Mishra has been granted an extension to his interim bail, PTI reported.

In the case of violence, which claimed eight lives, a Supreme Court bench of Justices Surya Kant and KV Viswanathan directed the Supreme Court registry to obtain a report on the progress of the case from the trial court.

The case pertains to an incident of violence on October 3, 2021, in which eight people, including four farmers, were killed in Tikunia in the Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh.

It is alleged that he was in an SUV that ran over four farmers and a journalist during a protest march in Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3 last year.

Shocking visuals of the incident showed the car ramming into the protesting farmers at high speed. Angry farmers had managed to chase down the SUV and allegedly lynched the driver and two BJP workers.

The incident sparked a wave of outrage against the ruling BJP and the government was accused of shielding Ajay Mishra, the Union minister of state for home.

A speech by the Union minister before the incident, in which he allegedly threatened to 'fix farmers in two minutes' if they did not stop the agitation, started doing the rounds in the aftermath of the killings, with many calling for his resignation.

On September 26 last year, the top court relaxed the bail conditions of Mr Mishra to enable him to visit and stay in the National Capital Region (NCR) to look after his ailing mother and for the treatment of his daughter.

The Supreme Court had relaxed the interim bail conditions imposed on Mishra by the trial court on January 25. Mr Mishra was asked not to stay either in Uttar Pradesh or in Delhi during the period.